deasil
/ˈdjɛʃəl/
"deasil" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deasil” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Clockwise, sunwise.
Corpus desk
Index EN-deasil · deasil · English
deasil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | deasil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈdjɛʃəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “deasil” in English
Rare enough to double-check
deasil is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed /ˈdjɛʃəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Clockwise, sunwise.".
deasil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From 1771, from Scottish Gaelic deiseil, deiseal (“southward, sunward; clockwise”) (adjective and adverb), from Old Irish dessel (“sunwise”), from dess (“right, south”) and sel (“turn”). The correct English form is deasil, spelled D-E-A-S-I-L.
Definition
- 1Clockwise, sunwise.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how deasil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In Strathfillan, Perthshire, people are cured of insanity by being made to go three times deasil round a certain pool and then being plunged headlong into it.
Our clocks and watches turn deasil, and it would seem odd, almost contrary to nature, to have them turn widdershins. We read deasil, and Macaulay's widdershins writing ‘traced from the right on pages white’ was a conscious oddity of priests. Port was circulated deasil; to send it round widdershins was extremely unlucky. Playing cards are dealt deasil; we…
Etymology
From 1771, from Scottish Gaelic deiseil, deiseal (“southward, sunward; clockwise”) (adjective and adverb), from Old Irish dessel (“sunwise”), from dess (“right, south”) and sel (“turn”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.