favouritism

noun

"favouritism" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“favouritism” is uncommon English (frequency #65,112 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,112
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The unfair favouring of one person or group at the expense of another.

Corpus desk

Index EN-favouritism · favouritism · English

favouritism · rank #65,112 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #65,112
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH favorability

Nearest frequency peer: favorability (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “favouritism”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “favouritism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for favouritism
PropertyValue
Headwordfavouritism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#65,112
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “favouritism” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).favouritismfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “favorability” (#65,111), “falsity” (#65,109), “FACS” (#65,107). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “favouritism” is #65,112. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

favouritism is uncommon English at frequency #65,112 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The unfair favouring of one person or group at the expense of another.".

No misspelling variants are generated for favouritism in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From favourit(e) + -ism. The correct English form is favouritism, spelled F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The unfair favouring of one person or group at the expense of another.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how favouritism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Heidi Alexander has experience of London. As Transport Secretary, she will also be under pressure not to show favouritism to the capital.

Etymology

From favourit(e) + -ism.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "favouritism"?
"favouritism" is spelled F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-I-S-M.
What does "favouritism" mean?
As a noun, "favouritism" means: The unfair favouring of one person or group at the expense of another.
What is the origin of the word "favouritism"?
From favourit(e) + -ism. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "favouritism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list