detent
/dɪˈtɛnt/
"detent" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“detent” is uncommon English (frequency #86,206 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,206
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch (stopping mechanism), pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
Corpus desk
Index EN-detent · detent · English
detent · rank #86,206 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,206
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH dichroic
Nearest frequency peer: dichroic (+3 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “detent”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- detent
detent
13,795 corpus weight
- dichroic
dichroic
13,792 corpus weight
- dimorphic
dimorphic
13,791 corpus weight
- disassociat…
disassociation
13,789 corpus weight
- discal
discal
13,788 corpus weight
- disconsolate
disconsolate
13,787 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “detent” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | detent |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈtɛnt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #86,206 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “detent” in English
Rare enough to double-check
detent is uncommon English at frequency #86,206 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɪˈtɛnt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch (stopping mechanism), pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for detent in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French détente, from Latin tendō (“to stretch”). The correct English form is detent, spelled D-E-T-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch (stopping mechanism), pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how detent appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A UHF tuner having 70 detent positions with fine tuning capability at all locations. Coarse tuning is accomplished via a toothed, detented disk and a spirally-extending rim having a follower lever operable therewith.
Etymology
From French détente, from Latin tendō (“to stretch”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "detent", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).