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diana

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "diana", 5-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 "diana" 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 "diana" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Diana is aEnglishname. It means: The daughter of Latona and Jupiter, and twin sister of Apollo; the goddess of the hunt, associated wild animals and the forest or wilderness, and an emblem of chastity; the Roman counterpart of Art... Pronounced /daɪˈænə/. It ranks #6,890 in English word frequency. Often confused with DNA and DIN.

Key facts for Diana
PropertyValue
HeadwordDiana
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/daɪˈænə/
Letters5
Frequency rank#6,890
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Diana in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Diana is 5 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /daɪˈænə/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,890 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for Diana, with forms such as "daina", "ddiana", and "diaan". 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, "DNA", "DIN", "ding", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Late Latin Diāna, short form of Latin Dīāna, derived by syncope from Old Latin Dīvāna, equivalent to dīvus + -āna; roughly akin to Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”) + Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂. Originally an Old Italic divinity of light and the… 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 Diana, spelled D-I-A-N-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The daughter of Latona and Jupiter, and twin sister of Apollo; the goddess of the hunt, associated wild animals and the forest or wilderness, and an emblem of chastity; the Roman counterpart of Artemis.
  2. 2
    78 Diana, a main belt asteroid.
  3. 3
    The Moon; the Moon as a deity.
  4. 4
    A female given name from Latin.

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin Diāna, short form of Latin Dīāna, derived by syncope from Old Latin Dīvāna, equivalent to dīvus + -āna; roughly akin to Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”) + Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂. Originally an Old Italic divinity of light and the moon; later identified as the Roman counterpart to Greek goddess Artemis. Cognate of Attic Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē), similarly syncopated from older Ancient Greek Διϝωνη (Diwōnē), whence via Latin Diōne is derived English Dione used in various ways across astronomy, chemistry, biology, and as a given name. From the same root Proto-Indo-European *dyúh₃onh₂- also potentially cognate to English June via Latin Jūnō.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: daina,ddiana,diaan,dianna,dinaa,idana

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Diana

Misspelling Variants of "Diana"

daina5ddiana6diaan5dianna6dinaa5idana5
Misspelling Variants of "Diana"

Frequency rank: #6,890 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Diana"?
"Diana" is spelled D-I-A-N-A. The IPA pronunciation is /daɪˈænə/.
What does "Diana" mean?
As a name, "Diana" means: The daughter of Latona and Jupiter, and twin sister of Apollo; the goddess of the hunt, associated wild animals and the forest or wilderness, and an emblem of chastity; the Roman counterpart of Art...
What words are commonly confused with "Diana"?
"Diana" is commonly confused with "DNA", "DIN", "ding". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Diana"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Diana" is /daɪˈænə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Diana"?
Borrowed from Late Latin Diāna, short form of Latin Dīāna, derived by syncope from Old Latin Dīvāna, equivalent to dīvus + -āna; roughly akin to Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”) + Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂. Originally an Old Italic divinity of lig... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.