masochism
/ˈmæs.ə.kɪ.zəm/
"masochism" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“masochism” is uncommon English (frequency #58,180 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,180
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The (often sexual) enjoyment of receiving pain or humiliation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-masochism · masochism · English
masochism · rank #58,180 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #58,180
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Mathur
Nearest frequency peer: Mathur (+1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “masochism”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- marshalling
marshalling
41,824 corpus weight
- Maryville
Maryville
41,823 corpus weight
- masochism
masochism
41,821 corpus weight
- Mathur
Mathur
41,820 corpus weight
- maximization
maximization
41,819 corpus weight
- Maybach
Maybach
41,818 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “masochism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | masochism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmæs.ə.kɪ.zəm/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #58,180 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “masochism” in English
Rare enough to double-check
masochism is uncommon English at frequency #58,180 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmæs.ə.kɪ.zəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The (often sexual) enjoyment of receiving pain or humiliation.".
masochism has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From German Masochismus, coined alongside Sadismus in 1886 by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. Named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose novel "Venus in Furs" explores a sadomasochistic relationship, + -ism. The correct English form is masochism, spelled M-A-S-O-C-H-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1The (often sexual) enjoyment of receiving pain or humiliation.
Etymology
From German Masochismus, coined alongside Sadismus in 1886 by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. Named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose novel "Venus in Furs" explores a sadomasochistic relationship, + -ism.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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); 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "masochism", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).