facetious
/fəˈsiːʃəs/
"facetious" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“facetious” is uncommon English (frequency #52,307 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,307
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Treating serious issues with (often deliberately) inappropriate humour; flippant.
Corpus desk
Index EN-facetious · facetious · English
facetious · rank #52,307 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,307
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH falsification
Nearest frequency peer: falsification (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “facetious”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- facetious
facetious
47,694 corpus weight
- falsificati…
falsification
47,693 corpus weight
- Farooq
Farooq
47,691 corpus weight
- fascinate
fascinate
47,690 corpus weight
- Fauci
Fauci
47,689 corpus weight
- femdom
femdom
47,688 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “facetious” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | facetious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /fəˈsiːʃəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #52,307 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “facetious” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
facetious is uncommon English at frequency #52,307 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /fəˈsiːʃəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for facetious, 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: From French facétieux, from Latin facētia (“jest, wit, humor”), from facētus (“witty, jocose, facetious”). The correct English form is facetious, spelled F-A-C-E-T-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Treating serious issues with (often deliberately) inappropriate humour; flippant.
- 2Pleasantly humorous; jocular.
- 3humorously silly or counterproductive for the purpose of sarcastically advocating the opposite.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how facetious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Robbie's joke about Heather's appearance was just him being facetious.
Troutbeck is a tiny village midway between Penrith and Keswick in a very sparsely populated part of Cumberland, and it used to be said by facetious travellers that the reason why it ever had a station at all was to give the engine a rest after it had struggled up the long and trying incline from Threlkeld.
Etymology
From French facétieux, from Latin facētia (“jest, wit, humor”), from facētus (“witty, jocose, facetious”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "facetious", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "facetious". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #52,307 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.