device
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "device", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "device" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "device" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
device is aEnglishnoun. It means: Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one. Pronounced /dɪˈvaɪs/. It ranks #2,150 in English word frequency. Often confused with dice and devil.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | device |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈvaɪs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,150 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for device is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈvaɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,150 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for device, with forms such as "ddevice", "deivce", and "devcie". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dice", "devil", "Devin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dews-? Proto-Indo-European *dus- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwís Latin dis- ▲ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-Euro… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is device, spelled D-E-V-I-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
- 2A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
- 3A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. 1602, Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. "This is our device,/ That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us."
- 4An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
- 5A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
- 6A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device. (heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.
- 7Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
- 8An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
- 9An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
- 10Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
- 11A spectacle or show.
- 12Opinion; decision.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dews-? Proto-Indo-European *dus- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwís Latin dis- ▲ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁-der. Proto-Italic *wiðō Latin *vidō Latin dīvidō Latin dīvīsus Old French devisbor. Middle English devis English device From Middle English devis, devise, devyce, devys, devyse, from Old French devis and devise, from Latin dīvīsus, past participle of dīvidō (“to divide”). Doublet of devise (noun).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddevice,deivce,devcie,devicce,deviec,devvice,dveice,edvice
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for device
Misspelling Variants of "device"
Frequency rank: #2,150 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index: