colloquialism
/kəˈləʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/
"colloquialism" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“colloquialism” is uncommon English (frequency #92,479 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,479
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A colloquial word or phrase; a common spoken expression.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | colloquialism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəˈləʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #92,479 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “colloquialism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
colloquialism is uncommon English at frequency #92,479 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kəˈləʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for colloquialism in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From colloquial + -ism. The correct English form is colloquialism, spelled C-O-L-L-O-Q-U-I-A-L-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A colloquial word or phrase; a common spoken expression.
- 2A colloquial manner of speaking.
Etymology
From colloquial + -ism.
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
How do you spell "colloquialism"?
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Using “colloquialism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-L-L-O-Q-U-I-A-L-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəˈləʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/ (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.