ennui
/ɒnˈwiː/
"ennui" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ennui” is uncommon English (frequency #58,667 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,667
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ennui · ennui · English
ennui · rank #58,667 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #58,667
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH enliven
Nearest frequency peer: enliven (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “ennui”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- elegiac
elegiac
41,341 corpus weight
- eliminator
eliminator
41,340 corpus weight
- ellipses
ellipses
41,338 corpus weight
- enliven
enliven
41,335 corpus weight
- ennui
ennui
41,334 corpus weight
- Eredivisie
Eredivisie
41,332 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ennui” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ennui |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɒnˈwiː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #58,667 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ennui” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ennui is uncommon English at frequency #58,667 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɒnˈwiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.".
ennui has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French ennui, from Old French enui (“annoyance”), from enuier (modern French ennuyer), from Late Latin inodiō, from Latin in odiō (“hated”). Doublet of annoy. The correct English form is ennui, spelled E-N-N-U-I.
Definition
- 1A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ennui appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There have always been individuals who toy with the political extremes out of a sort of high-class ennui.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French ennui, from Old French enui (“annoyance”), from enuier (modern French ennuyer), from Late Latin inodiō, from Latin in odiō (“hated”). Doublet of annoy.
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); 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ennui", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).