caitiff
/ˈkeɪtɪf/noun, adjective
caitiff is spelled C-A-I-T-I-F-F: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 68 million words in written English, the 258,950th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, caitiff means “A base or despicable person; a wretch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of caitiff is caitiffs.
How many letters and syllables are in caitiff?
| Letters | 7: C-A-I-T-I-F-F |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 68 million words; the 258,950th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is caitiff?
Caitiff appears about once in every 68 million words in written English, the 258,950th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce caitiff?
- /ˈkeɪtɪf/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-caitiff.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of caitiff
- caitiffs plural
- more caitiff comparative
- most caitiff superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does caitiff mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A base or despicable person; a wretch.
- 2
obsoleteA captive or prisoner, particularly a galley slave.
- 3
archaicA villain, a coward or wretch.
adjective
- 1
Especially despicable; cowardly
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does caitiff come from?
From Middle English caitif, from Anglo-Norman caitif (“captive”), akin to Old French chaitif (French chétif) and Middle Dutch keytyf, from a Vulgar Latin *cactīvus alteration via Gaulish influence from Latin captīvus (“captive”); compare Italian cattivo (“bad, wicked”). Doublet of captive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).