combust
/kəmˈbʌst/
"combust" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“combust” is uncommon English (frequency #56,674 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,674
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To burn; to catch fire.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | combust |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kəmˈbʌst/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #56,674 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “combust” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
combust is uncommon English at frequency #56,674 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /kəmˈbʌst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for combust in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Old French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up”). The correct English form is combust, spelled C-O-M-B-U-S-T.
Definition
- 1To burn; to catch fire.
- 2To erupt with enthusiasm or boisterousness.
Etymology
From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Old French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up”).
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.
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Using “combust”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-B-U-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəmˈbʌst/ (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.