ignominy
/ˈɪɡnəˌmɪni/
"ignominy" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ignominy” is uncommon English (frequency #66,741 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,741
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Great dishonor, shame, or humiliation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ignominy · ignominy · English
ignominy · rank #66,741 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,741
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH idler
Nearest frequency peer: idler (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ignominy”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Hywel
Hywel
33,264 corpus weight
- idler
idler
33,262 corpus weight
- ignominy
ignominy
33,260 corpus weight
- Inaba
Inaba
33,258 corpus weight
- indisposed
indisposed
33,257 corpus weight
- inducible
inducible
33,256 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ignominy” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ignominy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪɡnəˌmɪni/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #66,741 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ignominy” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ignominy is uncommon English at frequency #66,741 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɪɡnəˌmɪni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Great dishonor, shame, or humiliation.".
ignominy has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French ignominie, from Latin ignōminia, from ig- (“not”) + nomen (“name”) (prefix assimilated form of in-). The correct English form is ignominy, spelled I-G-N-O-M-I-N-Y.
Definition
- 1Great dishonor, shame, or humiliation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ignominy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But like Czar Peter content to toil in the shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if thereby he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored countrymen.
Bradly came out from hiding with a dyspeptic grunt, too depressed by ignominy to send a curse after the old woman.
Etymology
Borrowed from French ignominie, from Latin ignōminia, from ig- (“not”) + nomen (“name”) (prefix assimilated form of in-).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ignominy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "ignominy". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #66,741 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "I" letter cohort. I–Z browse
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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.