deviant
/ˈdiː.vi.ənt/
"deviant" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deviant” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,805 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #27,805
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Characterized by deviation from an expectation or a social standard.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | deviant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈdiː.vi.ənt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #27,805 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “deviant” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for deviant is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdiː.vi.ənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,805 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Characterized by deviation from an expectation or a social standard.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for deviant, with forms such as "ddeviant", "deivant", and "devaint". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "Devin", "Devine", "deviate", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English devyaunt (“deviating, different”), from Late Latin dēviāns, present participle of dēviō (“to stray, deviate or detour”). The noun is from the adjective, possibly attested in Middle English with the meaning “one who goes astray”. * (Devia… The correct English form is deviant, spelled D-E-V-I-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Characterized by deviation from an expectation or a social standard.
Etymology
From Middle English devyaunt (“deviating, different”), from Late Latin dēviāns, present participle of dēviō (“to stray, deviate or detour”). The noun is from the adjective, possibly attested in Middle English with the meaning “one who goes astray”. * (DeviantArt member): So called because the website was originally for people who modified (deviated) computer applications.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddeviant,deivant,devaint,deviannt,deviantt,deviatn,devinat,devviant,dveiant,edviant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of deviant - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “deviant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-V-I-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdiː.vi.ənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Devin” - see the side-by-side comparison. deviant vs Devin
- 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.