blithe
/blaɪð/
"blithe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blithe” is uncommon English (frequency #54,049 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,049
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
Corpus desk
Index EN-blithe · blithe · English
blithe · rank #54,049 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #54,049
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH blurt
Nearest frequency peer: blurt (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “blithe”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- betters
betters
45,956 corpus weight
- bibs
bibs
45,955 corpus weight
- blithe
blithe
45,952 corpus weight
- blurt
blurt
45,951 corpus weight
- BMJ
BMJ
45,950 corpus weight
- borax
borax
45,947 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “blithe” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | blithe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /blaɪð/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #54,049 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “blithe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
blithe is uncommon English at frequency #54,049 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /blaɪð/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for blithe, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms], from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *bl… The correct English form is blithe, spelled B-L-I-T-H-E.
Definition
- 1Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
- 2Cheerful, happy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how blithe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.
Southern liberals (there are a good few) exhibit blithe insouciance: it is a real blight.
Etymology
From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms], from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blithe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).