Desdemona
/ˌdɛzdəˈmoʊnə/
"desdemona" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Desdemona” is uncommon English (frequency #53,494 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,494
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Othello's wife in Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, noted for being a victim of jealousy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Desdemona |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌdɛzdəˈmoʊnə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #53,494 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Desdemona” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Desdemona is uncommon English at frequency #53,494 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˌdɛzdəˈmoʊnə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Desdemona has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined based on Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-) + δαίμων (daímōn), hence "ill-fated, unfortunate". The correct English form is Desdemona, spelled D-E-S-D-E-M-O-N-A.
Definition
- 1Othello's wife in Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, noted for being a victim of jealousy.
- 2An inner moon of the planet Uranus.
- 3666 Desdemona, a main-belt asteroid discovered in 1908.
Etymology
Coined based on Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-) + δαίμων (daímōn), hence "ill-fated, unfortunate".
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 “Desdemona”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-S-D-E-M-O-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdɛzdəˈmoʊnə/ (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.