fornicate
/ˈfɔː.nɪˌkeɪt/
"fornicate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fornicate” is uncommon English (frequency #99,275 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #99,275
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To engage in fornication.
Corpus desk
Index EN-fornicate · fornicate · English
fornicate · rank #99,275 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #99,275
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH foolery
Nearest frequency peer: foolery (-2 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 “fornicate”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- flaxen
flaxen
735 corpus weight
- fleabag
fleabag
734 corpus weight
- fleshly
fleshly
733 corpus weight
- flyway
flyway
729 corpus weight
- foolery
foolery
728 corpus weight
- fornicate
fornicate
726 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “fornicate” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fornicate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈfɔː.nɪˌkeɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #99,275 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “fornicate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
fornicate is uncommon English at frequency #99,275 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈfɔː.nɪˌkeɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To engage in fornication.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for fornicate, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1552; borrowed from Latin fornicātus, perfect active participle of fornicor (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from fornix (“arch, vault; brothel”). It was customary for courtesans of the era to wait for their customers out of the rain in a… The correct English form is fornicate, spelled F-O-R-N-I-C-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To engage in fornication.
Etymology
First attested in 1552; borrowed from Latin fornicātus, perfect active participle of fornicor (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from fornix (“arch, vault; brothel”). It was customary for courtesans of the era to wait for their customers out of the rain in arched passageways.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fornicate", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).