# bureaucracy

> English word · Noun · IPA /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/ · frequency rank #13,877

## Definitions
1. Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
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. The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **bureaucrat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bureaucracy-vs-bureaucrat)

## Common misspellings (16)
`bbureaucracy`, `brueaucracy`, `bueraucracy`, `buraeucracy`, `bureacuracy`, `bureaucarcy`, `bureauccracy`, `bureaucraccy`, `bureaucracyy`, `bureaucrayc`, `bureaucrcay`, `bureaucrracy`, `bureaurcacy`, `bureuacracy`, `burreaucracy`, `ubreaucracy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bureaucracy