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bureaucracy

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "bureaucracy", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "bureaucracy" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "bureaucracy" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

bureaucracy is aEnglishnoun. It means: Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers. Pronounced /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/. Often confused with bureaucrat.

Key facts for bureaucracy
PropertyValue
Headwordbureaucracy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/
Letters11
Frequency rank#13,877
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bureaucracy in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bureaucracy is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,877 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for bureaucracy, with forms such as "bbureaucracy", "brueaucracy", and "bueraucracy". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "bureaucrat", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From bureau + -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is bureaucracy, spelled B-U-R-E-A-U-C-R-A-C-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
  2. 2
    A system of administration based upon organisation into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc., designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner.
  3. 3
    The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.
  4. 4
    Excessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour.

Etymology

From bureau + -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bbureaucracy,brueaucracy,bueraucracy,buraeucracy,bureacuracy,bureaucarcy,bureauccracy,bureaucraccy,bureaucracyy,bureaucrayc,bureaucrcay,bureaucrracy,bureaurcacy,bureuacracy,burreaucracy,ubreaucracy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bureaucracy

Misspelling Variants of "bureaucracy"

bbureaucracy12brueaucracy11bueraucracy11buraeucracy11bureacuracy11bureaucarcy11bureauccracy12bureaucraccy12
Misspelling Variants of "bureaucracy"

Frequency rank: #13,877 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bureaucracy"?
"bureaucracy" is spelled B-U-R-E-A-U-C-R-A-C-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/.
What does "bureaucracy" mean?
As a noun, "bureaucracy" means: Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
What words are commonly confused with "bureaucracy"?
"bureaucracy" is commonly confused with "bureaucrat". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bureaucracy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bureaucracy" is /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bureaucracy"?
From bureau + -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index:

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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.