effrontery
/ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/
"effrontery" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“effrontery” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Insolent and shameless audacity.
Corpus desk
Index EN-effrontery · effrontery · English
effrontery · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | effrontery |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “effrontery” in English
Rare enough to double-check
effrontery is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
effrontery has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface a… The correct English form is effrontery, spelled E-F-F-R-O-N-T-E-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Insolent and shameless audacity.
- 2An act of insolent and shameless audacity.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how effrontery appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We even had the effrontery to suggest that he should leave the country.
Let not the Englishman in Scotland believe that the undoffed hat, the curt reply, the apparent assumption of equality, all spring from deliberate effrontery, and are wholly beyond the reach of southern influence.
Etymology
From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface analysis, ef- + front + -er + -y.
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.