circumflex
/ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/
"circumflex" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“circumflex” is uncommon English (frequency #73,069 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,069
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | circumflex |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #73,069 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “circumflex” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
circumflex is uncommon English at frequency #73,069 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for circumflex, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus (“bent about”), calqued from Ancient Greek περισπώμενος (perispṓmenos, “drawn around”). The correct English form is circumflex, spelled C-I-R-C-U-M-F-L-E-X.
Definition
- 1A diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus (“bent about”), calqued from Ancient Greek περισπώμενος (perispṓmenos, “drawn around”).
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 “circumflex”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-I-R-C-U-M-F-L-E-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/ (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.