fulsome
/ˈfʊlsəm/
"fulsome" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fulsome” is an uncommon English word, ranked #79,528 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #79,528
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fulsome |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfʊlsəm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #79,528 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fulsome” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fulsome is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfʊlsəm/. Corpus data places it at rank #79,528 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for fulsome, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fulsom, equivalent to full + -some. The meaning has evolved from an original positive connotation "abundant" to a neutral "plump" to a negative "overfed". In modern usage, it can take on any of these inflections. See usage note. The nega… The correct English form is fulsome, spelled F-U-L-S-O-M-E.
Definition
- 1Offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
- 2Excessively flattering (connoting insincerity).
- 3Characterised or marked by fullness; abundant, copious.
- 4Fully developed; mature.
Etymology
From Middle English fulsom, equivalent to full + -some. The meaning has evolved from an original positive connotation "abundant" to a neutral "plump" to a negative "overfed". In modern usage, it can take on any of these inflections. See usage note. The negative sense "offensive, gross; disgusting, sickening" developed secondarily after the 13th century and was influenced by Middle English foul (“foul”). In the 18th century, the word was sometimes even spelled foulsome.
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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Using “fulsome”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-U-L-S-O-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfʊlsəm/ (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
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.