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jesus

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

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

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

Jesus is aEnglishname. It means: Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jewish religious preacher and craftsman (commonly understood to have been a carpenter) from Galilee held to be a prophet, teacher, the Son of God, and the Messiah... Pronounced /ˈd͡ʒiːzəs/. It ranks #1,106 in English word frequency. Often confused with jus and Jews.

Key facts for Jesus
PropertyValue
HeadwordJesus
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ˈd͡ʒiːzəs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,106
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Jesus is 5 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈd͡ʒiːzəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,106 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 6 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 Jesus, with forms such as "ejsus", "jessu", and "jessus". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "jus", "Jews", "jets", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English Jhesus, Iesus, from Latin Iēsūs, from Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), from Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ), a contracted form of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (yəhōšúaʿ, “Joshua”), meaning "the Lord saves". The form יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ) is attested in some… 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 Jesus, spelled J-E-S-U-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jewish religious preacher and craftsman (commonly understood to have been a carpenter) from Galilee held to be a prophet, teacher, the Son of God, and the Messiah, or Christ, in Christianity; also called "Jesus Christ" by Christians. Held to be a prophet by Muslims and Baháʼís. Also called "the historical Jesus" from a historiographic viewpoint or a secular one.
  2. 2
    One of a variety of persons or entities in western Manichaeism, of whom some correspond closely to the Christian conception of Jesus of Nazareth.
  3. 3
    A male given name from Spanish in Spanish culture; an anglicized spelling of Jesús.
  4. 4
    A male given name from Aramaic.
  5. 5
    Ellipsis of Jesus College, Cambridge.
  6. 6
    Ellipsis of Jesus College, Oxford.

Etymology

From Middle English Jhesus, Iesus, from Latin Iēsūs, from Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), from Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ), a contracted form of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (yəhōšúaʿ, “Joshua”), meaning "the Lord saves". The form יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ) is attested in some of the later books of the Hebrew Bible (Ezra–Nehemiah), and translated as Jeshua or Yeshua in some English editions (the former appearing in the King James Version). The Greek texts make no distinction between Jesus and Joshua, referring to them both as Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs). In the Wycliffe Bible (Middle English), the forms used are Jhesus and Jhesu.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ejsus,jessu,jessus,jesuss,jeuss,jjesus,jseus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Jesus

Misspelling Variants of "Jesus"

ejsus5jessu5jessus6jesuss6jeuss5jjesus6jseus5
Misspelling Variants of "Jesus"

Frequency rank: #1,106 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Jesus"?
"Jesus" is spelled J-E-S-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈd͡ʒiːzəs/.
What does "Jesus" mean?
As a name, "Jesus" means: Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jewish religious preacher and craftsman (commonly understood to have been a carpenter) from Galilee held to be a prophet, teacher, the Son of God, and the Messiah...
What words are commonly confused with "Jesus"?
"Jesus" is commonly confused with "jus", "Jews", "jets". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Jesus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Jesus" is /ˈd͡ʒiːzəs/. 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 "Jesus"?
From Middle English Jhesus, Iesus, from Latin Iēsūs, from Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), from Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ), a contracted form of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (yəhōšúaʿ, “Joshua”), meaning "the Lord saves". The form יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ) is attest... 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 J in our English index:

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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.