maladroit
/ˌmæl.əˈdɹɔɪt/
"maladroit" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“maladroit” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not adroit; awkward, clumsy, inept.
Corpus desk
Index EN-maladroit · maladroit · English
maladroit · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | maladroit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌmæl.əˈdɹɔɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “maladroit” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
maladroit is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌmæl.əˈdɹɔɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Not adroit; awkward, clumsy, inept.".
Zero misspellings are on record for maladroit in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French maladroit, from mal- (“bad, badly”) + adroit (“skilful”). The correct English form is maladroit, spelled M-A-L-A-D-R-O-I-T.
Definition
- 1Not adroit; awkward, clumsy, inept.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how maladroit appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Like the maladroit boy himself, the director does not believe in warming his audience up with narrative foreplay, and it's the same story when we cut to the family home of Julio's girlfriend, whose parents allow him into her bedroom to help her look for her passport, and she gleefully wrenches her tracksuit bottoms down.
Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate?
Etymology
From French maladroit, from mal- (“bad, badly”) + adroit (“skilful”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.