chauvinism
/ˈʃəʊ.vɪ.nɪ.zəm/
"chauvinism" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chauvinism” is uncommon English (frequency #53,438 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,438
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Excessive patriotism, eagerness for national superiority; jingoism.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chauvinism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃəʊ.vɪ.nɪ.zəm/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #53,438 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chauvinism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
chauvinism is uncommon English at frequency #53,438 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʃəʊ.vɪ.nɪ.zəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for chauvinism, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword 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: Borrowed from French chauvinisme (“idealistic devotion to Napoleon”), named for Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary and excessively patriotic soldier of the French First Republic. The figure of Chauvin became especially famous as a character in the play La Cocarde… The correct English form is chauvinism, spelled C-H-A-U-V-I-N-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1Excessive patriotism, eagerness for national superiority; jingoism.
- 2Unwarranted bias, favoritism, or devotion to one's own particular group, cause, or idea.
Etymology
Borrowed from French chauvinisme (“idealistic devotion to Napoleon”), named for Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary and excessively patriotic soldier of the French First Republic. The figure of Chauvin became especially famous as a character in the play La Cocarde Tricolore by the Cogniard brothers.
Synonyms
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); 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 “chauvinism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-U-V-I-N-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃəʊ.vɪ.nɪ.zəm/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.