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display

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

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "display", 7-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 "display" 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 "display" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

display is aEnglishnoun. It means: A show or spectacle. Pronounced /dɪsˈpleɪ/. It ranks #2,339 in English word frequency. Often confused with displays and displayed.

Key facts for display
PropertyValue
Headworddisplay
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɪsˈpleɪ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#2,339
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for display is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪsˈpleɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,339 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for display, with forms such as "ddisplay", "dipslay", and "dislpay". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "displays", "displayed", "dismay", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English displayen, from Anglo-Norman despleier and Old French despleier, desploiier, from Medieval Latin displicare (“to unfold, display”), from Latin dis- (“apart”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of deploy. 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 display, spelled D-I-S-P-L-A-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A show or spectacle.
  2. 2
    A piece of work to be presented visually.
  3. 3
    A device, furniture or marketing-oriented bulk packaging for visual presentation for sales promotion.
  4. 4
    An electronic screen that shows graphics or text.
  5. 5
    The presentation of information for visual or tactile reception.

Etymology

From Middle English displayen, from Anglo-Norman despleier and Old French despleier, desploiier, from Medieval Latin displicare (“to unfold, display”), from Latin dis- (“apart”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of deploy.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddisplay,dipslay,dislpay,dispaly,displayy,displlay,displya,dispplay,dissplay,dsiplay,idsplay

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for display

Misspelling Variants of "display"

ddisplay8dipslay7dislpay7dispaly7displayy8displlay8displya7dispplay8
Misspelling Variants of "display"

Frequency rank: #2,339 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "display"?
"display" is spelled D-I-S-P-L-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /dɪsˈpleɪ/.
What does "display" mean?
As a noun, "display" means: A show or spectacle.
What words are commonly confused with "display"?
"display" is commonly confused with "displays", "displayed", "dismay". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "display"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "display" is /dɪsˈpleɪ/. 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 "display"?
From Middle English displayen, from Anglo-Norman despleier and Old French despleier, desploiier, from Medieval Latin displicare (“to unfold, display”), from Latin dis- (“apart”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of deploy. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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.