east
/iːst/
"east" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“east” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #709 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #709
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | east |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /iːst/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #709 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “east” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for east is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /iːst/. Corpus data places it at rank #709 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for east, with forms such as "aest", "easst", and "eastt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "et", "ES", "eat", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English est, from Old English ēast, from Proto-West Germanic *austr, from Proto-Germanic *austrą, from Proto-Germanic *austraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros (“east”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aist (“east”), North Frisian uast, ååst, ö… The correct English form is east, spelled E-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°.
- 2The eastern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
- 3In a church: the direction of the altar and chancel; the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem.
Etymology
From Middle English est, from Old English ēast, from Proto-West Germanic *austr, from Proto-Germanic *austrą, from Proto-Germanic *austraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros (“east”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aist (“east”), North Frisian uast, ååst, ööst (“east”), Saterland Frisian Aaste (“east”), West Frisian east (“east”), Dutch oost (“east”), German Ost (“east”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål øst (“east”), Faroese eystur (“east”), Icelandic austur (“east”), Norwegian Nynorsk aust, øst (“east”), Swedish ost, öst, öster (“east”); also with Avestan 𐬎𐬱𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭𐬀 (ušastara, “eastern”), Latin auster (“south”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aest,easst,eastt,esat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of east - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “east”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-A-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /iːst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “et” - see the side-by-side comparison. east vs et
- 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.