brazen
/ˈbɹeɪzən/
"brazen" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“brazen” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,303 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #25,303
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Made of brass.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | brazen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈbɹeɪzən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #25,303 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “brazen” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for brazen is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɹeɪzən/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,303 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for brazen, with forms such as "barzen", "bbrazen", and "braezn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bren", "broken", "Brazil", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass + -en (compare golden, wooden, etc.). The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550… The correct English form is brazen, spelled B-R-A-Z-E-N.
Definition
- 1Made of brass.
- 2Brass-like in appearance or character; bright, ruddy, hard.
- 3Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.
- 4Extremely strong; impenetrable; resolute.
- 5Shameless or impudent; shocking or audacious; brash.
Etymology
From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass + -en (compare golden, wooden, etc.). The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare brass neck, bold as brass.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: barzen,bbrazen,braezn,brazenn,brazne,brazzen,brrazen,brzaen,rbazen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of brazen - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “brazen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-A-Z-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɹeɪzən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bren” - see the side-by-side comparison. brazen vs bren
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.