burgess
/ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/
"burgess" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“burgess” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,286 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,286
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
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 | burgess |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #14,286 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “burgess” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for burgess is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,286 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 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for burgess, with forms such as "bburgess", "brugess", and "bugress". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Burgos", "Burmese", "burger", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English burgeis, from Anglo-Norman burgeis, of Proto-Germanic origin; either from Late Latin burgensis (from Latin burgus), or from Frankish *burg, both from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ-. See also… The correct English form is burgess, spelled B-U-R-G-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
- 2A town magistrate.
- 3A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
- 4A member of the House of Burgesses, a legislative body in colonial America, established by the Virginia Company to provide civil rule in the colonies.
Etymology
From Middle English burgeis, from Anglo-Norman burgeis, of Proto-Germanic origin; either from Late Latin burgensis (from Latin burgus), or from Frankish *burg, both from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ-. See also borough, bourgeois, burgish.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bburgess,brugess,bugress,buregss,burges,burggess,burgses,burrgess,ubrgess
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of burgess - 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 “burgess”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-G-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Burgos” - see the side-by-side comparison. burgess vs Burgos
- 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.