diabolic
/ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/
"diabolic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“diabolic” is uncommon English (frequency #78,527 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,527
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of, being, or pertaining to a devil or the Devil.
Corpus desk
Index EN-diabolic · diabolic · English
diabolic · rank #78,527 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,527
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH diasporic
Nearest frequency peer: diasporic (+1 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 “diabolic”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- derecho
derecho
21,478 corpus weight
- dermatologi…
dermatological
21,477 corpus weight
- diabolic
diabolic
21,474 corpus weight
- diasporic
diasporic
21,473 corpus weight
- Dione
Dione
21,471 corpus weight
- dirigible
dirigible
21,469 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “diabolic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | diabolic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #78,527 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “diabolic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
diabolic is uncommon English at frequency #78,527 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
diabolic has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English diabolik, from Middle French diabolique, from Late Latin diabolicus, from Ancient Greek διαβολικός (diabolikós, “devilish”), from διάβολος (diábolos, “devil”). First attested in 1350–1400. The correct English form is diabolic, spelled D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C.
Definition
- 1Of, being, or pertaining to a devil or the Devil.
- 2Having qualities traditionally attributed to devils.
- 3Having qualities traditionally attributed to devils.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how diabolic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
diabolic magic square
"The Sovereign Council of Wisdom," or the Order of Palladium, founded in Paris, was a diabolic order claiming masonic origin.
Etymology
From Middle English diabolik, from Middle French diabolique, from Late Latin diabolicus, from Ancient Greek διαβολικός (diabolikós, “devilish”), from διάβολος (diábolos, “devil”). First attested in 1350–1400.
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 "diabolic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).