obsequious
/əbˈsiːkwi.əs/
"obsequious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obsequious” is uncommon English (frequency #80,719 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,719
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
Corpus desk
Index EN-obsequious · obsequious · English
obsequious · rank #80,719 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #80,719
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH ochreous
Nearest frequency peer: ochreous (+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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “obsequious”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- nuzzling
nuzzling
19,287 corpus weight
- NVMe
NVMe
19,286 corpus weight
- obsequious
obsequious
19,282 corpus weight
- ochreous
ochreous
19,281 corpus weight
- Oedipal
Oedipal
19,280 corpus weight
- Ogier
Ogier
19,278 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “obsequious” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obsequious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #80,719 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obsequious” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
obsequious is uncommon English at frequency #80,719 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for obsequious in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel). The correct English form is obsequious, spelled O-B-S-E-Q-U-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
- 2Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.
- 3Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how obsequious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.
Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.
Etymology
From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "obsequious", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
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- Usage frequency rank #80,719 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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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.