ingroup

noun

"ingroup" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ingroup” is uncommon English (frequency #77,798 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,798
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The social group that one belongs to.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ingroup · ingroup · English

ingroup · rank #77,798 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,798
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH infiltrator

Nearest frequency peer: infiltrator (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “ingroup”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “ingroup” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ingroup
PropertyValue
Headwordingroup
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#77,798
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ingroup” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).ingroupfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “infiltrator” (#77,797), “inimical” (#77,799), “incompressible” (#77,795). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “ingroup” is #77,798. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ingroup is uncommon English at frequency #77,798 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for ingroup in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From in- + group. The correct English form is ingroup, spelled I-N-G-R-O-U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    The social group that one belongs to.
  2. 2
    In cladistics, the monophyletic group that includes all taxa of interest to the current study.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ingroup appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. You will learn a lot about formal and informal Japanese language throughout this book. In Japanese society a distinction is made between the 'in-group' (myself, my family, my work colleagues, my friends) and the 'out-group' (my seniors, people from other families and workplaces). Politeness is an important traditional aspect of Japanese life and this is r…
  2. And because people derive personal esteem and meaning from their group memberships, they are naturally inclined to evaluate their ingroups positively in comparison to outgroups. When an ingroup’s dominant social position is secure or not contested by lower-status outgroups, intergroup harmony is expected to prevail. But when perceived as illegitimate and/…

Etymology

From in- + group.

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

How do you spell "ingroup"?
"ingroup" is spelled I-N-G-R-O-U-P.
What does "ingroup" mean?
As a noun, "ingroup" means: The social group that one belongs to.
What is the origin of the word "ingroup"?
From in- + group. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ingroup", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list