ornery

/ˈɔːnəɹi/

//ˈɔːnəɹi// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"ornery" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ornery” is uncommon English (frequency #64,590 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,590
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ornery · ornery · English

ornery · rank #64,590 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,590
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH Osun

Nearest frequency peer: Osun (+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.

Long-tail ranks near “ornery”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “ornery” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ornery
PropertyValue
Headwordornery
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈɔːnəɹi/
Letters6
Frequency rank#64,590
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ornery” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).orneryfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Osun” (#64,591), “Ouagadougou” (#64,592), “Oglethorpe” (#64,586). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “ornery” is #64,590. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ornery is uncommon English at frequency #64,590 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈɔːnəɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

ornery has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: A contracted or dialectal pronunciation of ordinary. Sense 3 (“ordinary, commonplace”) was the earliest sense; the meaning of the word then shifted to “inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant”—presumably due to ordinariness—and finally to sense 1 (“disagreeable… The correct English form is ornery, spelled O-R-N-E-R-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.
  2. 2
    Troublesome to deal with in a good way; mischievous, prankish, teasing.
  3. 3
    Ordinary, commonplace; hence, inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ornery appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme. "The low-down, ornery cuss!" said Dobbs. "The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!"
  2. Through Michael sped the thought: 'Could I make her jealous?' And he was shocked at it. A low-down thought—mean and ornery!

Etymology

A contracted or dialectal pronunciation of ordinary. Sense 3 (“ordinary, commonplace”) was the earliest sense; the meaning of the word then shifted to “inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant”—presumably due to ordinariness—and finally to sense 1 (“disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with”).

This word in other languages

intratable(Español)grantig(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "ornery"?
"ornery" is spelled O-R-N-E-R-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɔːnəɹi/.
What does "ornery" mean?
As an adjective, "ornery" means: Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.
How do you pronounce "ornery"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ornery" is /ˈɔːnəɹi/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "ornery"?
A contracted or dialectal pronunciation of ordinary. Sense 3 (“ordinary, commonplace”) was the earliest sense; the meaning of the word then shifted to “inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant”—presumably due to ordinariness—and finally to sense 1 (“di... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ornery", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

owings#64,596papyri#64,597partie#64,599Norcal#64,573

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list