janus
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "janus", 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 "janus" 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 "janus" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
Janus is aEnglishname. It means: The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions. Pronounced /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/. Often confused with jus and Jas.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Janus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Name |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #28,261 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Janus is 5 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,261 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for Janus, with forms such as "ajnus", "jannus", and "jansu". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "jus", "Jas", "jaws", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”). 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 Janus, spelled J-A-N-U-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions.
- 2Used to indicate things with two faces (such as animals with diprosopus) or aspects; or made of two different materials; or having a two-way action.
- 3Used to indicate things with two faces (such as animals with diprosopus) or aspects; or made of two different materials; or having a two-way action.
- 4A two-faced person, a hypocrite.
- 5A moon of Saturn.
Etymology
From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ajnus,jannus,jansu,januss,jauns,jjanus,jnaus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Janus
Misspelling Variants of "Janus"
Frequency rank: #28,261 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter J in our English index: