nasty
/ˈnaː.sti/
"nasty" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nasty” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,966 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #4,966
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Dirty, filthy.
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 | nasty |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈnaː.sti/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,966 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nasty” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nasty is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnaː.sti/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,966 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for nasty, with forms such as "ansty", "nassty", and "nastty". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Nat", "nay", "navy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of… The correct English form is nasty, spelled N-A-S-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Dirty, filthy.
- 2Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).
- 3Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.
- 4Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.
- 5Spiteful, unkind.
- 6Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.
- 7Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).
- 8Formidable, terrific; wicked.
Etymology
From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”). Alternative theories have also been proposed, which include: * From Low German nask (“nasty”) + -y. * Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant" > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean; lazy, cranky”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above, or related to *nest (“nest”). * From Old French nastre (“lowly, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster. * Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty. * Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ansty,nassty,nastty,nastyy,nasyt,natsy,nnasty,nsaty
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nasty - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “nasty”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-A-S-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnaː.sti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Nat” - see the side-by-side comparison. nasty vs Nat
- 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.