# illustrious

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ɪˈlʌs.tɹɪ.əs/ · frequency rank #19,364

## Definitions
1. Admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.

## Etymology
From Latin illūstris (“bright, shining; distinguished, prominent, illustrious”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree). Illūstris is derived from illūstrō (“to brighten, illuminate; to make famous or illustrious”), from in- (“in, inside”) + lūstrō (“to purify by making a sacrifice; to brighten, illuminate”) (from lūstrō (“purificatory sacrifice”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”) or *lewh₃- (“to wash”)).

## Easily confused with
- **industrious** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/illustrious-vs-industrious)

## Common misspellings (14)
`illsutrious`, `illusrtious`, `illusstrious`, `illustirous`, `illustriosu`, `illustriouss`, `illustriuos`, `illustroius`, `illustrrious`, `illusttrious`, `illutsrious`, `ilulstrious`, `ilustrious`, `lilustrious`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/illustrious