cosmetic
/kɒzˈmɛtɪk/
"cosmetic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cosmetic” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,008 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,008
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cosmetic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,008 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cosmetic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cosmetic is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,008 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for cosmetic, with forms such as "ccosmetic", "comsetic", and "cosemtic". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "cosmic", "cosmetics", "comedic", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), from κοσμητής (kosmētḗs, “orderer, director, decorator”), from κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to… The correct English form is cosmetic, spelled C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Imparting or improving beauty, particularly the beauty of the complexion.
- 2External or superficial; pertaining only to the surface or appearance of something.
Etymology
From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), from κοσμητής (kosmētḗs, “orderer, director, decorator”), from κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”), from κόσμος (kósmos, “order”). By surface analysis, cosmos + -etic.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccosmetic,comsetic,cosemtic,cosmeitc,cosmetci,cosmeticc,cosmettic,cosmmetic,cosmteic,cossmetic,csometic,ocsmetic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cosmetic - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “cosmetic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɒzˈmɛtɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cosmic” - see the side-by-side comparison. cosmetic vs cosmic
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.