ethos
/ˈiːθɒs/
"ethos" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ethos” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #19,079. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #19,079
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The character or fundamental values of a person, people, culture, or movement.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ethos · ethos · English
ethos · rank #19,079 · 7 variants · 14 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,079
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH escalation
Nearest frequency peer: escalation (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “ethos”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- entrances
entrances
80,925 corpus weight
- escalation
escalation
80,923 corpus weight
- ethos
ethos
80,922 corpus weight
- eureka
eureka
80,921 corpus weight
- exec
exec
80,920 corpus weight
- eyewitness
eyewitness
80,919 corpus weight
What this shows “ethos” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ethos |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiːθɒs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,079 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “ethos”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around ethos (IPA /ˈiːθɒs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #19,079 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ethos, with forms such as "ehtos", "ethhos", and "ethoss". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "ETS", "Eton", "ethyl", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek ἦθος (êthos, “character; custom, habit”). Cognate to Sanskrit स्वधा (svadhā́, “habit, custom”). The correct English form is ethos, spelled E-T-H-O-S.
Definition
- 1The character or fundamental values of a person, people, culture, or movement.
- 2A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker invokes their authority, competence or expertise in an attempt to persuade others that their view is correct.
- 3The traits in a work of art which express the ideal or typic character, as influenced by the ethos (character or fundamental values) of a people, rather than emotional situations or individual character traits in a narrow sense; opposed to pathos.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ethos appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
To slip past censors, Chinese bloggers have become masters of comic subterfuge, cloaking their messages in protective layers of irony and satire. This is not a new concept, but it has erupted so powerfully that it now defines the ethos of the Internet in China.
As we saw with Housing Problems, this 'telling one's own story' is an ethos Edgar Anstey would have applauded, and it was an ethos that has fed into Network Rail's work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Green explains: "COVID has produced huge challenges for us, but it showed there is such a need for film-making at a time like this."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἦθος (êthos, “character; custom, habit”). Cognate to Sanskrit स्वधा (svadhā́, “habit, custom”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ehtos
- ethhos
- ethoss
- ethso
- etohs
- etthos
- tehos
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ethos - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "ethos", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).