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fabric

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

6 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "fabric", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fabric" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "fabric" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

fabric is aEnglishnoun. It means: An edifice or building. Pronounced /ˈfæb.ɹɪk/. It ranks #6,240 in English word frequency. Often confused with FARC and fanfic.

Key facts for fabric
PropertyValue
Headwordfabric
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfæb.ɹɪk/
Letters6
Frequency rank#6,240
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of fabric in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for fabric is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfæb.ɹɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,240 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for fabric, with forms such as "afbric", "fabbric", and "fabirc". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "FARC", "fanfic", "faerie", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of fabrica, borrowed from Latin, and forge, borrowed from Old French. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is fabric, spelled F-A-B-R-I-C, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An edifice or building.
  2. 2
    The act of constructing, construction, fabrication.
  3. 3
    The structure of anything, the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship, texture, make.
  4. 4
    The physical material of a building.
  5. 5
    The framework underlying a structure.
  6. 6
    A material made of fibers; especially, a woven one.
  7. 7
    The texture of a cloth.
  8. 8
    The appearance of crystalline grains in a rock.
  9. 9
    The fired clay material of pottery artifacts.
  10. 10
    Interconnected nodes that look like a textile fabric when diagrammed.

Etymology

Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of fabrica, borrowed from Latin, and forge, borrowed from Old French.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: afbric,fabbric,fabirc,fabrci,fabricc,fabrric,farbic,fbaric,ffabric

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for fabric

Misspelling Variants of "fabric"

afbric6fabbric7fabirc6fabrci6fabricc7fabrric7farbic6fbaric6
Misspelling Variants of "fabric"

Frequency rank: #6,240 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fabric"?
"fabric" is spelled F-A-B-R-I-C. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfæb.ɹɪk/.
What does "fabric" mean?
As a noun, "fabric" means: An edifice or building.
What words are commonly confused with "fabric"?
"fabric" is commonly confused with "FARC", "fanfic", "faerie". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fabric"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fabric" is /ˈfæb.ɹɪk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "fabric"?
Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of fabrica, borrowed from Latin, and forge, borrowed from Old French. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.