deride
/dɪˈɹaɪd/
"deride" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deride” is an uncommon English word, ranked #59,339 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #59,339
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To laugh at or mock (someone or something) harshly; to ridicule, to scorn.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | deride |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈɹaɪd/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #59,339 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “deride” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for deride is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈɹaɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #59,339 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for deride in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *de Learned borrowing from Latin dērīdēre, the present active infinitive of dērīdeō (“to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride”), from dē- (prefix denoting putting down or subjecting to indignity) + rīdeō (“to laugh; to laugh at, mock, ridicule”) (f… The correct English form is deride, spelled D-E-R-I-D-E.
Definition
- 1To laugh at or mock (someone or something) harshly; to ridicule, to scorn.
- 2To laugh in a harshly mocking manner.
Etymology
PIE word *de Learned borrowing from Latin dērīdēre, the present active infinitive of dērīdeō (“to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride”), from dē- (prefix denoting putting down or subjecting to indignity) + rīdeō (“to laugh; to laugh at, mock, ridicule”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”) (referring to turning the mouth to smile) or *wreyd- (“to carve; to scratch”)). cognates * Old French dérider (rare), derire
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 “deride”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-R-I-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈɹaɪd/ (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
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.