indolence
/ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/
"indolence" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“indolence” is an uncommon English word, ranked #86,380 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #86,380
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Habitual laziness or sloth.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | indolence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #86,380 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “indolence” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for indolence is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/. Corpus data places it at rank #86,380 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for indolence in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French indolence, or from its etymon Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + dolēns (“hurting, suffering; grieving, lamenting”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Dolēns is t… The correct English form is indolence, spelled I-N-D-O-L-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1Habitual laziness or sloth.
- 2Lack of pain in a tumour.
- 3A state in which one feels no pain or is indifferent to it; a lack of any feeling.
- 4A state of repose in which neither pain nor pleasure is experienced.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French indolence, or from its etymon Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + dolēns (“hurting, suffering; grieving, lamenting”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Dolēns is the present participle of doleō (“to hurt, suffer; to be sorry, deplore, grieve for, lament”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to divide, split”).
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 “indolence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-D-O-L-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ (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.