offset
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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6 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "offset", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "offset" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "offset" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
offset is aEnglishnoun. It means: Anything that acts as counterbalance; a compensating equivalent. Pronounced /ˈɒf.sɛt/. It ranks #7,256 in English word frequency. Often confused with onset and outset.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | offset |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɒf.sɛt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,256 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for offset is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒf.sɛt/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,256 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for offset, with forms such as "fofset", "offest", and "offsett". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "onset", "outset", "offer", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is offset, spelled O-F-F-S-E-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Anything that acts as counterbalance; a compensating equivalent.
- 2A form of countertrade arrangement, in which the seller agrees to purchase within a set time frame products of a certain value from the buying country. This kind of agreement may be used in large international public sector contracts such as arms sales.
- 3A time at which something begins; outset.
- 4The offset printing process, in which ink is carried from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and from there to the printing surface.
- 5The difference between a target memory address and a base address.
- 6The displacement between the base level of a measurement and the signal's real base level.
- 7The distance by which one thing is out of alignment with another.
- 8A short distance measured at right angles from a line actually run to some point in an irregular boundary, or to some object.
- 9An abrupt bend in an object, such as a rod, by which one part is turned aside out of line, but nearly parallel, with the rest; the part thus bent aside.
- 10A short prostrate shoot that takes root and produces a tuft of leaves, etc.
- 11A spur from a range of hills or mountains.
- 12A horizontal ledge on the face of a wall, formed by a diminution of its thickness, or by the weathering or upper surface of a part built out from it; a set-off.
- 13A terrace on a hillside.
Etymology
From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fofset,offest,offsett,offsset,offste,ofset,ofsfet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for offset
Misspelling Variants of "offset"
Frequency rank: #7,256 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index: