deficit
de·fi·cit/ˈdɛfəsɪt/noun
deficit is spelled D-E-F-I-C-I-T, 3 syllables: de·fi·cit. The wrong spelling people search most is defecit: about 250 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Deficit is a noun meaning “Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack”. The plural of deficit is deficits.
How many letters and syllables are in deficit?
| Letters | 7: D-E-F-I-C-I-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: de·fi·cit |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,456th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, defecit, about 250 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell deficit?
Deficit is spelled D-E-F-I-C-I-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for deficit in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is deficit?
Deficit appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th 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 deficit?
- UK /ˈdɛfɪsɪt/
- US /ˈdɛfəsɪt/
Deficit has 3 syllables, split de·fi·cit in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-deficit.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of deficit
- deficits plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does deficit mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack.
The crop output this year has been comparatively small, owing to the deficit in rainfall.
- 2
A situation wherein, or amount whereby, spending exceeds (e.g. government) revenue.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate deficit?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of deficit: def.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Deficit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense situation wherein spending exceeds government revenue:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does deficit come from?
From French déficit, from Latin dēficit. Related to defect.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).