large
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 "large", 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 "large" 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 "large" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
large is anEnglishadj. It means: Of considerable or relatively great size or extent. Pronounced /lɑːd͡ʒ/. It ranks #399 in English word frequency. Often confused with late and lure.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | large |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /lɑːd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #399 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for large is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /lɑːd͡ʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #399 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 7 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 large, with forms such as "alrge", "lagre", and "lareg". 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, "late", "lure", "lore", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English large, from Old French large, from Latin larga, feminine of largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”), of uncertain ultimate origin; see there for more. Along with big, it mostly displaced Middle English stoor and muchel (the … 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 large, spelled L-A-R-G-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Of considerable or relatively great size or extent.
- 2That is large (the manufactured size).
- 3Abundant; ample.
- 4Full in statement; diffuse; profuse.
- 5Free; unencumbered.
- 6Unrestrained by decorum; said of language.
- 7Crossing the line of a ship's course in a favorable direction; said of the wind when it is abeam, or between the beam and the quarter.
Etymology
From Middle English large, from Old French large, from Latin larga, feminine of largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”), of uncertain ultimate origin; see there for more. Along with big, it mostly displaced Middle English stoor and muchel (the latter surviving in much under a different meaning).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alrge,lagre,lareg,largge,larrge,llarge,lrage
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for large
Misspelling Variants of "large"
Frequency rank: #399 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter L in our English index: