general knowledge

/ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/

//ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ// noun

"general-knowledge" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“general knowledge” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The wide body of information that a person acquires from education and from life, much of which may be trivial.

Key facts for general knowledge
PropertyValue
Headwordgeneral knowledge
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “general knowledge” sits in English frequency

general knowledge falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

general knowledge is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The wide body of information that a person acquires from education and from life, much of which may be trivial.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for general knowledge, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is general knowledge, spelled G-E-N-E-R-A-L- -K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The wide body of information that a person acquires from education and from life, much of which may be trivial.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "general knowledge"?
"general knowledge" is spelled G-E-N-E-R-A-L- -K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/.
What does "general knowledge" mean?
As a noun, "general knowledge" means: The wide body of information that a person acquires from education and from life, much of which may be trivial.
How do you pronounce "general knowledge"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "general knowledge" is /ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "general knowledge" come from?
"general knowledge" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “general knowledge”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is G-E-N-E-R-A-L- -K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈdʒɛnɹəl ˈnɒlɪdʒ/ (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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list