censor
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "censor", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "censor" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "censor" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
censor is aEnglishnoun. It means: One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour ... Pronounced /ˈsɛnsə/. Often confused with Conor and Cesar.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | censor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛnsə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #18,034 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for censor is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɛnsə/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,034 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for censor, with forms such as "ccensor", "cennsor", and "cenosr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "Conor", "Cesar", "center", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is borrowed from Latin cēnsor (“magistrate; critic”), from cēnseō (“to give an opinion, judge; to assess, reckon; to decree, determine”) + -sor (variant of -tor (suffix forming masculine agent nouns)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱens- (“t… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is censor, spelled C-E-N-S-O-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour and morality.
- 2A high-ranking official who was responsible for the supervision of subordinate government officials.
- 3An official responsible for the removal or suppression of objectionable material (for example, if obscene or likely to incite violence) or sensitive content in books, films, correspondence, and other media.
- 4A college or university official whose duties vary depending on the institution.
- 5One who censures or condemns.
- 6An algorithm that approves or rejects something on grounds of taste or morality etc.
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Latin cēnsor (“magistrate; critic”), from cēnseō (“to give an opinion, judge; to assess, reckon; to decree, determine”) + -sor (variant of -tor (suffix forming masculine agent nouns)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱens- (“to announce, proclaim; to put in order”). The English word is cognate with Late Middle English sensour, Proto-Iranian *cánhati (“to declare; to explain”), Sanskrit शंसति (śaṃsati, “to declare”). The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccensor,cennsor,cenosr,censorr,censro,censsor,cesnor,cnesor,ecnsor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for censor
Misspelling Variants of "censor"
Frequency rank: #18,034 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "censor"?
What does "censor" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "censor"?
How do you pronounce "censor"?
What is the origin of the word "censor"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: