DARVO
dar·vo/ˈdɑɹ.voʊ/noun
DARVO is spelled D-A-R-V-O: 5 letters and 2 syllables (dar·vo). It appears about once in every 78 million words in written English, the 279,513th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, DARVO means “Acronym of deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender, a behavior of perpetrators of wrongdoing (especially sexual offenders), when accused of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in DARVO?
| Letters | 5: D-A-R-V-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: dar·vo |
| In writing | about once in every 78 million words; the 279,513th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is DARVO?
DARVO appears about once in every 78 million words in written English, the 279,513th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce DARVO?
- UK /ˈdɑː.vəʊ/
- US /ˈdɑɹ.voʊ/
DARVO has 2 syllables, split dar·vo in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-DARVO.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does DARVO mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Acronym of deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender, a behavior of perpetrators of wrongdoing (especially sexual offenders), when accused of attacking their victim, reversing the roles of victim and offender.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does DARVO come from?
Acronym of “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender”. Coined by Jennifer J. Freyd in “Violations of power, adaptive blindness, and betrayal trauma theory” (1997), Feminism & Psychology.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).