diglossia
/ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/
"diglossia" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“diglossia” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated lang...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | diglossia |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “diglossia” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
diglossia is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for diglossia in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin diglōssia. In linguistics introduced 1959 by Charles A. Ferguson, based on French diglossie, from Ancient Greek δίγλωσσος (díglōssos, “bilingual”) + -ία (-ía). Equivalent to di- + -glossia. The correct English form is diglossia, spelled D-I-G-L-O-S-S-I-A.
Definition
- 1The coexistence in a given population of two closely related native languages or dialects, one of which is regarded as more prestigious than the other; the similar coexistence of two unrelated languages.
- 2The presence of a cleft or doubled tongue.
Etymology
From Latin diglōssia. In linguistics introduced 1959 by Charles A. Ferguson, based on French diglossie, from Ancient Greek δίγλωσσος (díglōssos, “bilingual”) + -ία (-ía). Equivalent to di- + -glossia.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “diglossia”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-G-L-O-S-S-I-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdaɪˈɡlɒsi.ə/ (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.