ignoramus
/ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹeɪ.məs/
"ignoramus" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ignoramus” is uncommon English (frequency #64,435 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,435
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A totally ignorant person—unknowledgeable, uneducated, or uninformed; a fool.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ignoramus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹeɪ.məs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #64,435 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ignoramus” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ignoramus is uncommon English at frequency #64,435 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹeɪ.məs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A totally ignorant person—unknowledgeable, uneducated, or uninformed; a fool.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for ignoramus in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: After the ignorant lawyer Ignoramus, the titular character in the 1615 play Ignoramus by the English playwright George Ruggle; from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know, we are unacquainted with, we are ignorant of”), the first-person plural present active indi… The correct English form is ignoramus, spelled I-G-N-O-R-A-M-U-S.
Definition
- 1A totally ignorant person—unknowledgeable, uneducated, or uninformed; a fool.
Etymology
After the ignorant lawyer Ignoramus, the titular character in the 1615 play Ignoramus by the English playwright George Ruggle; from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know, we are unacquainted with, we are ignorant of”), the first-person plural present active indicative of ignōrō (“I do not know, I am unacquainted with, I am ignorant of”).
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 “ignoramus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-G-N-O-R-A-M-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɪɡ.nəˈɹeɪ.məs/ (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.