caliginous
/kəˈlɪdʒɪnəs/
"caliginous" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“caliginous” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Dark, obscure; murky.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | caliginous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kəˈlɪdʒɪnəs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “caliginous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for caliginous is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəˈlɪdʒɪnəs/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Dark, obscure; murky.".
caliginous has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French caligineux (“misty; obscure”), or directly from its Latin etymon cālīginōsus (“misty; dark, obscure”). Cālīginōsus is derived from cālīgō, cālīginis (“fog, mist, vapour; darkness, gloom”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone … The correct English form is caliginous, spelled C-A-L-I-G-I-N-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Dark, obscure; murky.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French caligineux (“misty; obscure”), or directly from its Latin etymon cālīginōsus (“misty; dark, obscure”). Cālīginōsus is derived from cālīgō, cālīginis (“fog, mist, vapour; darkness, gloom”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “caliginous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-L-I-G-I-N-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəˈlɪdʒɪnəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.