Cressida
"cressida" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Cressida” is uncommon English (frequency #50,449 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,449
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A female given name from Ancient Greek.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Cressida |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #50,449 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Cressida” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Cressida is uncommon English at frequency #50,449 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Cressida has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Used by Geoffrey Chaucer, also by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida (1602), from Italian Criseida (which Boccaccio mistakenly substituted for Briseida (“Briseis”)), from Ancient Greek Χρυσηΐς (Khrusēḯs), from Ancient Greek χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”). The correct English form is Cressida, spelled C-R-E-S-S-I-D-A.
Definition
- 1A female given name from Ancient Greek.
- 2A moon of Uranus, Solar System.
Etymology
Used by Geoffrey Chaucer, also by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida (1602), from Italian Criseida (which Boccaccio mistakenly substituted for Briseida (“Briseis”)), from Ancient Greek Χρυσηΐς (Khrusēḯs), from Ancient Greek χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”).
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
How do you spell "Cressida"?
What does "Cressida" mean?
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Using “Cressida”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-E-S-S-I-D-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.