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issue

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

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Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "issue", 5-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 "issue" 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 "issue" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

issue is aEnglishnoun. It means: The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow Pronounced /ˈɪʃuː/. It ranks #589 in English word frequency. Often confused with isu and issues.

Key facts for issue
PropertyValue
Headwordissue
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɪʃuː/
Letters5
Frequency rank#589
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs10
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for issue is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪʃuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #589 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 37 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for issue, with forms such as "isseu", "isue", and "isuse". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "isu", "issues", "issued", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”). The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the end or resul… 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 issue, spelled I-S-S-U-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow
  2. 2
    The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow
  3. 3
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  4. 4
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  5. 5
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  6. 6
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  7. 7
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  8. 8
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  9. 9
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  10. 10
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  11. 11
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  12. 12
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  13. 13
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  14. 14
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  15. 15
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  16. 16
    Someone or something that flows out or comes out
  17. 17
    The means or opportunity by which something flows or comes out, particularly
  18. 18
    The means or opportunity by which something flows or comes out
  19. 19
    The place where something flows or comes out, an outlet
  20. 20
    The place where something flows or comes out, an outlet
  21. 21
    The action or an instance of sending something out, particularly
  22. 22
    The action or an instance of sending something out
  23. 23
    The action or an instance of sending something out
  24. 24
    The action or an instance of sending something out
  25. 25
    The action or an instance of sending something out
  26. 26
    Any question or situation to be resolved, particularly
  27. 27
    Any question or situation to be resolved
  28. 28
    Any question or situation to be resolved
  29. 29
    Any question or situation to be resolved
  30. 30
    Any question or situation to be resolved
  31. 31
    The action or an instance of concluding something
  32. 32
    The action or an instance of concluding something
  33. 33
    The end result of an event or events, any result or outcome, particularly
  34. 34
    The end result of an event or events, any result or outcome
  35. 35
    The end result of an event or events, any result or outcome
  36. 36
    The action or an instance of feeling some emotion.
  37. 37
    The action or an instance of leaving any state or condition.

Etymology

From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”). The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the end or result of pleadings in a suit (by presenting the point to be determined by trial)," leading to the sense of "the controversy over facts in a trial" (early 14th century, Anglo-French). This later extended to mean "a point of contention between two parties" (early 15th century) and more generally, "an important point to be decided" (1836). Consequently, the verbal phrase take issue with emerged in 1797 (preceded by join issue in the 1690s), meaning "to adopt an affirmative or negative stance in a dispute with another." The expression to have issues, meaning "to have unresolved conflicts," dates back to 1990.

Synonyms

sortiesallychargedescendantfruit of one's loinsoffspring

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: isseu,isue,isuse,sisue

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for issue

Misspelling Variants of "issue"

isseu5isue4isuse5sisue5
Misspelling Variants of "issue"

Frequency rank: #589 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "issue"?
"issue" is spelled I-S-S-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɪʃuː/.
What does "issue" mean?
As a noun, "issue" means: The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow
What words are commonly confused with "issue"?
"issue" is commonly confused with "isu", "issues", "issued". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "issue"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "issue" is /ˈɪʃuː/. 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 "issue"?
From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”). The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the en... 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:

All "I" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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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.