credulous
/ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/
"credulous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“credulous” is uncommon English (frequency #67,336 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,336
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Excessively ready to believe things; gullible.
| 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) |
Where “credulous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
credulous is uncommon English at frequency #67,336 among 43,570 “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.
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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Using “credulous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-E-D-U-L-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/ (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.