laggard
/ˈlæɡəd/
"laggard" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“laggard” is uncommon English (frequency #98,348 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #98,348
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Lagging behind; taking more time than the others in a group.
Corpus desk
Index EN-laggard · laggard · English
laggard · rank #98,348 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #98,348
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 16,425
- PHOTO-FINISH Ladin
Nearest frequency peer: Ladin (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “laggard”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- lactone
lactone
1,655 corpus weight
- Ladin
Ladin
1,654 corpus weight
- laggard
laggard
1,653 corpus weight
- laksa
laksa
1,652 corpus weight
- lamba
lamba
1,651 corpus weight
- lampreys
lampreys
1,649 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “laggard” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | laggard |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlæɡəd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #98,348 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “laggard” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
laggard is uncommon English at frequency #98,348 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlæɡəd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for laggard, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From lag + -ard. The correct English form is laggard, spelled L-A-G-G-A-R-D.
Definition
- 1Lagging behind; taking more time than the others in a group.
- 2Not growing as quickly as the rest of the flock or herd.
Etymology
From lag + -ard.
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "laggard", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.