obfuscate
/ˈɒbfəskeɪt/
"obfuscate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obfuscate” is an uncommon English word, ranked #68,493 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #68,493
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make dark; to overshadow.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obfuscate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #68,493 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obfuscate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obfuscate is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #68,493 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.
No generated misspelling entries exist for obfuscate in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective is first attested in 1487, in Middle English, the verb in 1536; either borrowed from Middle French obfusquer, offusquer, from Old French offusquer, or directly from Late Latin obfuscātus, offuscātus, the perfect passive participle of obfuscō, … The correct English form is obfuscate, spelled O-B-F-U-S-C-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make dark; to overshadow.
- 2To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth.
- 3To alter code while preserving its behavior but concealing its structure and intent.
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in 1487, in Middle English, the verb in 1536; either borrowed from Middle French obfusquer, offusquer, from Old French offusquer, or directly from Late Latin obfuscātus, offuscātus, the perfect passive participle of obfuscō, offuscō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin ob- + fuscō (“to darken”). Doublet of dusken (“to darken, make obscure”).
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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Using “obfuscate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-F-U-S-C-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/ (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
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.