-ent
/ənt/
"ent" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“-ent” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Causing, doing, or promoting a certain action.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ent · -ent · English
-ent · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "-" 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 | -ent |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | /ənt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “-ent” in English
Rare enough to double-check
-ent is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed /ənt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for -ent in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English -ent, also -ant, -aunt, etc., from Old French -ent and its source Latin -ēns (accusative singular -entem), suffix of present participles of verbs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugations. The correct English form is -ent, spelled --E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Causing, doing, or promoting a certain action.
- 2One that causes, does, or promotes a certain action.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how -ent appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
absorbent, efficient
agent, deterrent
Etymology
From Middle English -ent, also -ant, -aunt, etc., from Old French -ent and its source Latin -ēns (accusative singular -entem), suffix of present participles of verbs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugations.
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.