faggot
/ˈfæɡ.ət/
"faggot" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“faggot” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,406 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,406
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A bundle of sticks or brushwood intended to be used for fuel tied together for carrying. (Some sources specify that a faggot is tied with two bands or withes, whereas a bavin is tied with just one.)
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 | faggot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfæɡ.ət/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #15,406 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “faggot” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for faggot is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfæɡ.ət/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,406 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for faggot, with forms such as "afggot", "faggott", and "faggto". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Fargo", "forgot", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). P… The correct English form is faggot, spelled F-A-G-G-O-T.
Definition
- 1A bundle of sticks or brushwood intended to be used for fuel tied together for carrying. (Some sources specify that a faggot is tied with two bands or withes, whereas a bavin is tied with just one.)
- 2Burdensome baggage.
- 3A bundle of pieces of iron or steel cut off into suitable lengths for welding.
- 4A burning or smouldering piece of firewood.
- 5A meatball made with offcuts and offal, especially pork. (See Wikipedia.)
- 6A gay man, especially an effeminate one.
- 7A non-heterosexual man.
- 8A man considered effeminate.
- 9An annoying or inconsiderate person.
- 10A shrewish woman.
- 11A soldier numbered on the muster roll, but not really existing.
- 12A faggot voter.
- 13A lazy, weak, work-shy person.
Etymology
From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). Perhaps from a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Ancient Greek φάκελος (phákelos, “bundle of wood”). The senses relating to persons, though possibly originating as an extension of the sense "bundle of sticks" (compare baggage), may have been reinforced by fag, from fagging and/or by faygele, from Yiddish פֿייגעלע (feygele, “homosexual”, literally “little bird”), related to English fowl.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afggot,faggott,faggto,fagogt,fagot,ffaggot,fgagot
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of faggot - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
How do you spell "faggot"?
What does "faggot" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "faggot"?
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Using “faggot”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-G-G-O-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfæɡ.ət/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Fargo” - see the side-by-side comparison. faggot vs Fargo
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.