heterodox
/ˈhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˌdɒks/
"heterodox" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“heterodox” is an uncommon English word, ranked #64,422 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #64,422
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to creeds, beliefs, or teachings, especially religious ones, that are different from what a religion (or sect) believes to be orthodox, but (usually) not conflicting with that reli...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | heterodox |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˌdɒks/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #64,422 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “heterodox” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for heterodox is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˌdɒks/. Corpus data places it at rank #64,422 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Of or pertaining to creeds, beliefs, or teachings, especially religious ones, that are different from what a religion (or sect) believes to be orthodox, but (usually) not conflicting with that reli...".
No misspelling variants are generated for heterodox in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek ἑτερόδοξος (heteródoxos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + δόξα (dóxa, “opinion”). The correct English form is heterodox, spelled H-E-T-E-R-O-D-O-X.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to creeds, beliefs, or teachings, especially religious ones, that are different from what a religion (or sect) believes to be orthodox, but (usually) not conflicting with that religion's established beliefs and therefore not heretical.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἑτερόδοξος (heteródoxos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + δόξα (dóxa, “opinion”).
Antonyms
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 “heterodox”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-T-E-R-O-D-O-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˌdɒks/ (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.