ephebe
/ɛˈfiːb/
"ephebe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ephebe” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An 18- to 20-year-old man in ancient Greece undergoing military training.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ephebe · ephebe · English
ephebe · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | ephebe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɛˈfiːb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ephebe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ephebe is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɛˈfiːb/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ephebe has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. 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: Via Latin ephēbus, from Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “adolescent”), from ἐπί (epí, “early”) + ἥβη (hḗbē, “manhood”), late 19th c. The correct English form is ephebe, spelled E-P-H-E-B-E.
Definition
- 1An 18- to 20-year-old man in ancient Greece undergoing military training.
- 2A young man; a youth.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ephebe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His glance touched their faces lightly as he smiled, a blond ephebe. Tame essence of [Oscar] Wilde.
Indeed Tom was much still the ephebe, sharing boys with his friend though talking of the gravity of marriage.
Etymology
Via Latin ephēbus, from Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “adolescent”), from ἐπί (epí, “early”) + ἥβη (hḗbē, “manhood”), late 19th c.
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.