delay
/dɪˈleɪ/
"delay" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“delay” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,618 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,618
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | delay |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈleɪ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,618 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “delay” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for delay is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈleɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,618 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for delay, with forms such as "ddelay", "dealy", and "delayy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dey", "deny", "dell", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-… The correct English form is delay, spelled D-E-L-A-Y.
Definition
- 1A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
- 2An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
- 3Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”).
- 4An amount of time provided on each move before one's clock starts to tick; a less common time control than increment.
Etymology
From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddelay,dealy,delayy,dellay,delya,dleay,edlay
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of delay - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "delay"?
What does "delay" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "delay"?
How do you pronounce "delay"?
What is the origin of the word "delay"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “delay”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-L-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈleɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dey” - see the side-by-side comparison. delay vs dey
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.