fly-in-the-ointment
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Detailed reference entry for the English word "fly-in-the-ointment", 19-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fly-in-the-ointment" 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 "fly-in-the-ointment" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“fly in the ointment” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
Dominant Wiktionary sense: Something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.
Compare similar words
See how fly in the ointment compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fly in the ointment |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈflaɪ ɪn ði ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/ |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fly in the ointment” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fly in the ointment is 19 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈflaɪ ɪn ði ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.".
No misspelling variants are generated for fly in the ointment in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: A reference to Ecclesiastes 10:1 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doeth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” 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 fly in the ointment, spelled F-L-Y- -I-N- -T-H-E- -O-I-N-T-M-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.
Etymology
A reference to Ecclesiastes 10:1 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doeth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.”
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “fly in the ointment, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/fly-in-the-ointment
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “fly in the ointment”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-L-Y- -I-N- -T-H-E- -O-I-N-T-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈflaɪ ɪn ði ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index: