cacophonous
/kəˈkɑfənəs/
"cacophonous" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cacophonous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cacophonous · cacophonous · English
cacophonous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cacophonous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kəˈkɑfənəs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cacophonous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cacophonous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /kəˈkɑfənəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds.".
cacophonous doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Adapted borrowing of Ancient Greek κακόφωνος (kakóphōnos) + -ous, from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + -φωνος (-phōnos, “sounding”). By surface analysis, caco- + -phonous. The correct English form is cacophonous, spelled C-A-C-O-P-H-O-N-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cacophonous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] Huple had rescued them just in time by seizing the controls back from Dobbs and leveling the ship out almost as suddenly right back in the middle of the buffeting layer of cacophonous flak from which they had escaped successfully only a moment before.
The good thing about this job is that it gives me time and space to contemplate the future at my leisure, whilst the city sleeps, free from the cacophonous curiosity of the hoi polloi.
Etymology
Adapted borrowing of Ancient Greek κακόφωνος (kakóphōnos) + -ous, from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + -φωνος (-phōnos, “sounding”). By surface analysis, caco- + -phonous.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.