mephitic
/ˌmɛˈfɪ.tɪk/
"mephitic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mephitic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Foul-smelling or noxious, particularly of a gas or atmosphere.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mephitic · mephitic · English
mephitic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | mephitic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌmɛˈfɪ.tɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “mephitic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
mephitic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌmɛˈfɪ.tɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Foul-smelling or noxious, particularly of a gas or atmosphere.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for mephitic, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin mephīticus, from mephītis; compare French méphitique. The correct English form is mephitic, spelled M-E-P-H-I-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Foul-smelling or noxious, particularly of a gas or atmosphere.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mephitic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"I could have borne the sight of his crutch," said she, "but the crutch and the nephew together really oppress me like a mephitic vapour."
It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explo…
Etymology
From Latin mephīticus, from mephītis; compare French méphitique.
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.