pedagogue
/ˈpɛdəɡɒɡ/
"pedagogue" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pedagogue” is uncommon English (frequency #92,988 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,988
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A teacher or instructor of children; one whose occupation is to teach the young.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pedagogue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɛdəɡɒɡ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #92,988 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pedagogue” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
pedagogue is uncommon English at frequency #92,988 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɛdəɡɒɡ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
pedagogue has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pedagoge, from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagōgus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)). By surface analysis, ped- (“child”) + -agogue. The correct English form is pedagogue, spelled P-E-D-A-G-O-G-U-E.
Definition
- 1A teacher or instructor of children; one whose occupation is to teach the young.
- 2A pedant; one who by teaching has become overly formal or pedantic in his or her ways; one who has the manner of a teacher.
- 3A slave who led the master's children to school, and had the charge of them generally.
Etymology
From Middle English pedagoge, from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagōgus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)). By surface analysis, ped- (“child”) + -agogue.
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 “pedagogue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-D-A-G-O-G-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɛdəɡɒɡ/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.