desinence
/ˈdɛsɪnəns/
"desinence" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“desinence” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A suffix used as an inflection; an ending; inflectional suffix.
Corpus desk
Index EN-desinence · desinence · English
desinence · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | desinence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɛsɪnəns/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “desinence” in English
Rare enough to double-check
desinence is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdɛsɪnəns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A suffix used as an inflection; an ending; inflectional suffix.".
desinence doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French désinence, from Latin dēsinentia, present participle of dēsinō (“I stop, end, close, make an end”). The correct English form is desinence, spelled D-E-S-I-N-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1A suffix used as an inflection; an ending; inflectional suffix.
Etymology
Borrowed from French désinence, from Latin dēsinentia, present participle of dēsinō (“I stop, end, close, make an end”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.