histrionic
/hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/
"histrionic" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“histrionic” is uncommon English (frequency #67,504 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,504
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or relating to actors or acting.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | histrionic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #67,504 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “histrionic” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
histrionic is uncommon English at frequency #67,504 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for histrionic, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Late Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting; scurrilous, shameful; wretched”), from Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting and the theatre”), from histriō (“actor, player”) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). By surface analy… The correct English form is histrionic, spelled H-I-S-T-R-I-O-N-I-C.
Definition
- 1Of or relating to actors or acting.
- 2Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the intention to draw attention.
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting; scurrilous, shameful; wretched”), from Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting and the theatre”), from histriō (“actor, player”) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). By surface analysis, histrion + -ic.
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 “histrionic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-S-T-R-I-O-N-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/ (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.