ludicrous
/ˈluː.dɪ.kɹəs/
"ludicrous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ludicrous” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,614 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #18,614
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Idiotic or unthinkable, often to the point of being funny; amusing by being plainly incongruous or absurd.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ludicrous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈluː.dɪ.kɹəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #18,614 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ludicrous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ludicrous is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈluː.dɪ.kɹəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,614 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Idiotic or unthinkable, often to the point of being funny; amusing by being plainly incongruous or absurd.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for ludicrous, with forms such as "lduicrous", "lludicrous", and "ludcirous". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin lūdicrus. First attested in 1619. The correct English form is ludicrous, spelled L-U-D-I-C-R-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Idiotic or unthinkable, often to the point of being funny; amusing by being plainly incongruous or absurd.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin lūdicrus. First attested in 1619.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lduicrous,lludicrous,ludcirous,luddicrous,ludiccrous,ludicorus,ludicrosu,ludicrouss,ludicrrous,ludicruos,ludircous,luidcrous,uldicrous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ludicrous - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ludicrous"?
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Using “ludicrous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-U-D-I-C-R-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈluː.dɪ.kɹəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.