demerit
/dɪˈmɛɹɪt/
"demerit" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“demerit” is uncommon English (frequency #63,554 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,554
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A quality of being inadequate; a disadvantage, a fault.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | demerit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈmɛɹɪt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #63,554 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “demerit” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
demerit is uncommon English at frequency #63,554 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɪˈmɛɹɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
demerit doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English demerit, demerite, from Old French desmerite (modern French démérite) and its etymon Latin dēmeritum. By surface analysis, de- + merit. The correct English form is demerit, spelled D-E-M-E-R-I-T.
Definition
- 1A quality of being inadequate; a disadvantage, a fault.
- 2A mark given for bad conduct to a person attending an educational institution or serving in the army.
- 3That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert.
Etymology
From Middle English demerit, demerite, from Old French desmerite (modern French démérite) and its etymon Latin dēmeritum. By surface analysis, de- + merit.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
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
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Using “demerit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-M-E-R-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈmɛɹɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.