inferiority complex
"inferiority-complex" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“inferiority complex” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sense of inferiority; the feeling that one is inferior to others in certain aspects.
Corpus desk
Index EN-inferiority-complex · inferiority complex · English
inferiority complex · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 letters
- VOW-8 8 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | inferiority complex |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “inferiority complex” in English
Rare enough to double-check
inferiority complex is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A sense of inferiority; the feeling that one is inferior to others in certain aspects.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for inferiority complex in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of German Minderwertigkeitskomplex (literally “complex of lesser value”), coined in 1920 by Alfred Adler. The correct English form is inferiority complex, spelled I-N-F-E-R-I-O-R-I-T-Y- -C-O-M-P-L-E-X.
Definition
- 1A sense of inferiority; the feeling that one is inferior to others in certain aspects.
Etymology
Calque of German Minderwertigkeitskomplex (literally “complex of lesser value”), coined in 1920 by Alfred Adler.
Antonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.