covetous
/ˈkʌvətəs/
"covetous" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“covetous” is uncommon English (frequency #83,150 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,150
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | covetous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkʌvətəs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #83,150 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “covetous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
covetous is uncommon English at frequency #83,150 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkʌvətəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious.".
Zero misspellings are on record for covetous in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English coveitous, from Anglo-Norman *cuveitus, from Medieval Latin as if *cupiditosus, from Latin cupiditas (“desire”); see covet. The correct English form is covetous, spelled C-O-V-E-T-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Distastefully desirous or keen, especially for something belonging to someone else; avaricious.
Etymology
From Middle English coveitous, from Anglo-Norman *cuveitus, from Medieval Latin as if *cupiditosus, from Latin cupiditas (“desire”); see covet.
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 “covetous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-V-E-T-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkʌvətəs/ (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.