charisma
/kəˈɹɪzmə/
"charisma" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“charisma” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,514 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,514
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A gift or power of leadership or authority.
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 | charisma |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəˈɹɪzmə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #18,514 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “charisma” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for charisma is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəˈɹɪzmə/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,514 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for charisma, with forms such as "cahrisma", "ccharisma", and "chairsma". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Christa", "Clarissa", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐσμᾰ (khắrĭsmă, “grace, favour, gift”), from χᾰρῐ́ζομαι (khărĭ́zomai, “I show favor”), from χᾰ́ρῐς (khắrĭs, “grace”), from the same root χαρ- (khar-) as χαίρω (khaírō, “I am happy”). Doublet of charism. First attested in 1875. Outside… The correct English form is charisma, spelled C-H-A-R-I-S-M-A.
Definition
- 1A gift or power of leadership or authority.
- 2A gift or power of leadership or authority.
- 3A gift or power bestowed upon a person by the Holy Spirit; a grace.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐσμᾰ (khắrĭsmă, “grace, favour, gift”), from χᾰρῐ́ζομαι (khărĭ́zomai, “I show favor”), from χᾰ́ρῐς (khắrĭs, “grace”), from the same root χαρ- (khar-) as χαίρω (khaírō, “I am happy”). Doublet of charism. First attested in 1875. Outside of theology, as early as 1930, charisma was found in a translation of a book written by German sociologist Max Weber, which OED and Etymonline regards as a semantic loan from German Charisma, denoting the special ability of certain leaders to inspire devotion (sense 1). By the 1940s and more clearly in the 1950s, the term was used more loosely to refer to personal charm in general (sense 1.1).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahrisma,ccharisma,chairsma,charimsa,charisam,charismma,charissma,charrisma,charsima,chharisma,chraisma,hcarisma
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of charisma - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “charisma”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-R-I-S-M-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəˈɹɪzmə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Christa” - see the side-by-side comparison. charisma vs Christa
- 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.