frist
/fɹɪst/
"frist" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“frist” is uncommon English (frequency #60,817 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #60,817
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A certain space or period of time; respite.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | frist |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fɹɪst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #60,817 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “frist” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
frist is uncommon English at frequency #60,817 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /fɹɪst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
frist doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English *frist, frest, first, furst, from Old English fierst (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”)… The correct English form is frist, spelled F-R-I-S-T.
Definition
- 1A certain space or period of time; respite.
- 2Time allotted for repayment; a term (in which a debt is to be repaid); a delay; respite; suspension.
- 3Credit; trust.
Etymology
From Middle English *frist, frest, first, furst, from Old English fierst (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also first.
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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Using “frist”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-I-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɹɪst/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.