infuscate
"infuscate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“infuscate” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To darken; to make black or obscure.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | infuscate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “infuscate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for infuscate is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To darken; to make black or obscure.".
Zero misspellings are on record for infuscate in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is first attested in 1650, the adjective in 1826; borrowed from Latin īnfuscātus, perfect passive participle of īnfuscō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + fuscō (“to make dark”), from fuscus (“da… The correct English form is infuscate, spelled I-N-F-U-S-C-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To darken; to make black or obscure.
Etymology
The verb is first attested in 1650, the adjective in 1826; borrowed from Latin īnfuscātus, perfect passive participle of īnfuscō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + fuscō (“to make dark”), from fuscus (“dark”).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “infuscate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-F-U-S-C-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.