malaise
/məˈleɪz/
"malaise" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“malaise” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,398 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #35,398
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | malaise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈleɪz/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #35,398 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “malaise” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for malaise is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /məˈleɪz/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,398 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for malaise, with forms such as "amlaise", "maalise", and "malaies". 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. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "malice", "Malays", "marais", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French malaise (“ill ease”), from mal- (“bad, badly”) + aise (“ease”). Compare ill at ease. The correct English form is malaise, spelled M-A-L-A-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1A feeling of general bodily discomfort, fatigue or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness.
- 2An ambiguous feeling of mental or moral depression.
- 3Ill will or hurtful feelings for others or someone.
Etymology
From French malaise (“ill ease”), from mal- (“bad, badly”) + aise (“ease”). Compare ill at ease.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amlaise,maalise,malaies,malaisse,malasie,maliase,mallaise,mlaaise,mmalaise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of malaise - 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
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Using “malaise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-L-A-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məˈleɪz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “malice” - see the side-by-side comparison. malaise vs malice
- 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.