deixis
/ˈdaɪksɪs/noun
deixis is spelled D-E-I-X-I-S: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 54 million words in written English, the 228,409th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, deixis means “The use of a word, such as a particle or pronoun, to refer to something that must be identified from the immediate physical, temporal, or grammatical…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of deixis is deixes.
How many letters and syllables are in deixis?
| Letters | 6: D-E-I-X-I-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 54 million words; the 228,409th 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 deixis?
Deixis appears about once in every 54 million words in written English, the 228,409th 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 deixis?
- /ˈdaɪksɪs/
- /ˈdeɪksɪs/
- /deɪˈɪksɪs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Jtle515-deixis.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-deixis.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-deixis2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of deixis
- deixes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does deixis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The use of a word, such as a particle or pronoun, to refer to something that must be identified from the immediate physical, temporal, or grammatical context; a word used in such a way.
Deixis allows for economy of speech but may introduce ambiguity in recorded speech when referring to something physical.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Deixis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense reference relying on context:
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 deixis come from?
From Ancient Greek δεῖξις (deîxis, “pointing, indicating, reference”), from δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “I show”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).