enfilade
/ˌɛnfəlˈeɪd/
"enfilade" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“enfilade” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A line or straight passage, or the position of that which lies in a straight line.
Corpus desk
Index EN-enfilade · enfilade · English
enfilade · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 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 | enfilade |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɛnfəlˈeɪd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “enfilade” in English
Rare enough to double-check
enfilade is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɛnfəlˈeɪd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for enfilade in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French enfilade. The correct English form is enfilade, spelled E-N-F-I-L-A-D-E.
Definition
- 1A line or straight passage, or the position of that which lies in a straight line.
- 2Gunfire directed along the length of a target.
- 3A series of doors that provide a vista when open.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how enfilade appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In his Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst wrote about people who know their world history as being able to look back through the millennia as an enfilade of rooms: Greece yields to Rome; Rome to the Byzantine Empire ... the Renaissance ... the British Empire ... America ... China. The same goes for people who can recite their…
Uncle Charles, a truly unparalleled slinger of shit, is laying down an enfilade of same, trying to mollify men who seem way more in need of a good brow-mopping than I.
Etymology
Borrowed from French enfilade.
Synonyms
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.