diabolic
/ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/
"diabolic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“diabolic” is an uncommon English word, ranked #78,527 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #78,527
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of, being, or pertaining to a devil or the Devil.
| 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) |
Where “diabolic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for diabolic is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #78,527 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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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Using “diabolic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.