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infinity

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "infinity", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "infinity" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "infinity" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

infinity is aEnglishnoun. It means: endlessness, unlimitedness, absence of a beginning, end or limits to size. Pronounced /ɪnˈfɪnɪti/. It ranks #9,350 in English word frequency. Often confused with insanity and infinite.

Key facts for infinity
PropertyValue
Headwordinfinity
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɪnˈfɪnɪti/
Letters8
Frequency rank#9,350
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of infinity in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for infinity is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈfɪnɪti/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,350 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for infinity, with forms such as "ifninity", "inffinity", and "infiinty". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "insanity", "infinite", "indignity", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinité, from Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”), from negative prefix in- (“not”), + fīnis (“end”), + noun of state suffix -tās. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is infinity, spelled I-N-F-I-N-I-T-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    endlessness, unlimitedness, absence of a beginning, end or limits to size.
  2. 2
    A number that has an infinite numerical value that cannot be counted.
  3. 3
    An idealised point which is said to be approached by sequences of values whose magnitudes increase without bound.
  4. 4
    A number which is very large compared to some characteristic number. For example, in optics, an object which is much further away than the focal length of a lens is said to be "at infinity", as the distance of the image from the lens varies very little as the distance increases further.
  5. 5
    The symbol ∞.

Etymology

From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinité, from Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”), from negative prefix in- (“not”), + fīnis (“end”), + noun of state suffix -tās.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ifninity,inffinity,infiinty,infinitty,infinityy,infiniyt,infinnity,infintiy,infniity,inifnity,innfinity,nifinity

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for infinity

Misspelling Variants of "infinity"

ifninity8inffinity9infiinty8infinitty9infinityy9infiniyt8infinnity9infintiy8
Misspelling Variants of "infinity"

Frequency rank: #9,350 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "infinity"?
"infinity" is spelled I-N-F-I-N-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪnˈfɪnɪti/.
What does "infinity" mean?
As a noun, "infinity" means: endlessness, unlimitedness, absence of a beginning, end or limits to size.
What words are commonly confused with "infinity"?
"infinity" is commonly confused with "insanity", "infinite", "indignity". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "infinity"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "infinity" is /ɪnˈfɪnɪti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "infinity"?
From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinité, from Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”), from negative prefix in- (“not”), + fīnis (“end”), + noun of state suffix -tās. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.