malus
/ˈmeɪ.ləs/
"malus" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“malus” is uncommon English (frequency #76,096 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,096
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The loss or return of performance-related compensation originally paid by an employer to an employee as a result of the discovery of a defect in the performance.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | malus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmeɪ.ləs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #76,096 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “malus” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
malus is uncommon English at frequency #76,096 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmeɪ.ləs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for malus, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin malus, by analogy with bonus (“additional compensation”). Doublet of mal. The correct English form is malus, spelled M-A-L-U-S.
Definition
- 1The loss or return of performance-related compensation originally paid by an employer to an employee as a result of the discovery of a defect in the performance.
- 2A penalty or negative thing.
Etymology
From Latin malus, by analogy with bonus (“additional compensation”). Doublet of mal.
Synonyms
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 “malus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-L-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmeɪ.ləs/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this 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.