cliquish
/ˈkliːkɪʃ/
"cliquish" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cliquish” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or pertaining to a clique.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cliquish · cliquish · English
cliquish · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cliquish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkliːkɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cliquish” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cliquish is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkliːkɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for cliquish in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From clique + -ish. The correct English form is cliquish, spelled C-L-I-Q-U-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to a clique.
- 2Tending to associate with a small and exclusive group.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how cliquish appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But Mr. Kleinzahler, 55, noted both for poems that jarringly marry the high and the low and for keeping his distance from the New York illuminati, has found himself late in his career in a rather awkward spot: the cusp of respectability in the cliquish world of poetry.
Etymology
From clique + -ish.
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.