# innocent

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɪnəsənt/ · frequency rank #3,309

## Definitions
1. Free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
2. Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.
3. Without wrongful intent; accidental or in good faith.
4. Naive; artless.
5. Not harmful; innocuous; harmless; benign.
6. Lacking (something), or knowledge of it.
7. Lawful; permitted.
8. Not contraband; not subject to forfeiture.

## Etymology
From Middle English innocent, from Old French innocent, inocent, borrowed from Latin innocēns (“harmless, inoffensive”), from in- (“not”) + nocēns, present participle of noceō (“to hurt”). By surface analysis, in- (“not”) + nocent (“harmful; guilty”). Displaced native Old English unsċyldiġ.

## Easily confused with
- **insolent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/innocent-vs-insolent)
- **innocently** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/innocent-vs-innocently)
- **indecent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/indecent-vs-innocent)
- **innocence** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/innocence-vs-innocent)

## Common misspellings (10)
`inncoent`, `innoccent`, `innocennt`, `innocentt`, `innocetn`, `innocnet`, `innoecnt`, `inocent`, `inoncent`, `ninocent`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/innocent