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field

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

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "field", 5-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 "field" 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 "field" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

field is aEnglishnoun. It means: A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country. Pronounced /ˈfi(ː)ld/. It ranks #571 in English word frequency. Often confused with fil and find.

Key facts for field
PropertyValue
Headwordfield
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfi(ː)ld/
Letters5
Frequency rank#571
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for field is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfi(ː)ld/. Corpus data places it at rank #571 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 26 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for field, with forms such as "feild", "ffield", and "fiedl". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fil", "find", "film", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English feeld, feld (“field”), from Old English feld (“field”), from Proto-West Germanic *felþu (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *felþuz (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with schwebeabla… 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 field, spelled F-I-E-L-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country.
  2. 2
    A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country.
  3. 3
    A wide, open space that is used to grow crops or to hold farm animals, usually enclosed by a fence, hedge or other barrier.
  4. 4
    A region containing a particular mineral.
  5. 5
    An airfield, airport or air base; especially, one with unpaved runways.
  6. 6
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  7. 7
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  8. 8
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  9. 9
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  10. 10
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  11. 11
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  12. 12
    A place where competitive matches are carried out.
  13. 13
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  14. 14
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  15. 15
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  16. 16
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  17. 17
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  18. 18
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  19. 19
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  20. 20
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  21. 21
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  22. 22
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  23. 23
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  24. 24
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  25. 25
    Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
  26. 26
    Archaic form of fielder.

Etymology

From Middle English feeld, feld (“field”), from Old English feld (“field”), from Proto-West Germanic *felþu (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *felþuz (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with schwebeablaut). Cognates Cognate with Scots feld, feild (“field”), North Frisian fial, fälj (“field”), Saterland Frisian Fäild (“field”), West Frisian fjild (“field”), Dutch veld (“field”), German and Luxembourgish Feld (“field”), Vilamovian fald (“field”), Danish, Norwegian felt (“field”), Swedish fält (“field”), Finnish pelto (“field”), Asturian and Leonese platu (“plate”), Aragonese and Spanish plato (“plate”), Catalan plat (“plate”), French plat (“dish”), Galician, Mirandese, and Portuguese prato (“plate”), Italian piatto (“plate”), Latin *plattus (“flattened”), Greek πλατύς (platýs, “wide, broad”). Doublet of plate. Related also to Middle English flat (“flat”), Old English folde (“earth, land, territory”), Old English folm (“palm of the hand”). More at flat, fold. Not related to English felt.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: feild,ffield,fiedl,fieldd,fielld,ifeld

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for field

Misspelling Variants of "field"

feild5ffield6fiedl5fieldd6fielld6ifeld5
Misspelling Variants of "field"

Frequency rank: #571 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "field"?
"field" is spelled F-I-E-L-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfi(ː)ld/.
What does "field" mean?
As a noun, "field" means: A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country.
What words are commonly confused with "field"?
"field" is commonly confused with "fil", "find", "film". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "field"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "field" is /ˈfi(ː)ld/. 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 "field"?
From Middle English feeld, feld (“field”), from Old English feld (“field”), from Proto-West Germanic *felþu (“field”), from Proto-Germanic *felþuz (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with s... 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.