obsequious
/əbˈsiːkwi.əs/
"obsequious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obsequious” is an uncommon English word, ranked #80,719 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #80,719
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
| 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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obsequious is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/. Corpus data places it at rank #80,719 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.
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “obsequious”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-S-E-Q-U-I-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əbˈsiːkwi.əs/ (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.