credulous
/ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/
"credulous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“credulous” is uncommon English (frequency #67,336 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,336
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Excessively ready to believe things; gullible.
Corpus desk
Index EN-credulous · credulous · English
credulous · rank #67,336 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,336
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH criminologist
Nearest frequency peer: criminologist (+1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “credulous”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Cowie
Cowie
32,668 corpus weight
- craic
craic
32,667 corpus weight
- credulous
credulous
32,665 corpus weight
- criminologi…
criminologist
32,664 corpus weight
- crossbody
crossbody
32,662 corpus weight
- crystallogr…
crystallographic
32,660 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “credulous” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | credulous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #67,336 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “credulous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
credulous is uncommon English at frequency #67,336 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for credulous in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originated in 1576, borrowed from Latin crēdulus (“that easily believes a thing, credulous”), from crēdō (“to believe”). The correct English form is credulous, spelled C-R-E-D-U-L-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Excessively ready to believe things; gullible.
- 2Believed too readily.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how credulous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…]purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout ſuſpition, no doubt to their equall ioy and contentment.
The doctor was a small, black, plump man with fuzzy hair and round, credulous eyes.
Etymology
Originated in 1576, borrowed from Latin crēdulus (“that easily believes a thing, credulous”), from crēdō (“to believe”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "credulous", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).