dilettante
/dɪlɪˈtænti/
"dilettante" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dilettante” is an uncommon English word, ranked #68,151 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #68,151
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dilettante |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪlɪˈtænti/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #68,151 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dilettante” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dilettante is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪlɪˈtænti/. Corpus data places it at rank #68,151 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for dilettante in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Italian dilettante, present participle of dilettare (“to delight”), from Latin dēlectāre (“to delight”). The correct English form is dilettante, spelled D-I-L-E-T-T-A-N-T-E.
Definition
- 1An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.
- 2A person with a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge.
Etymology
From Italian dilettante, present participle of dilettare (“to delight”), from Latin dēlectāre (“to delight”).
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 “dilettante”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-L-E-T-T-A-N-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪlɪˈtænti/ (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.