pedantic
/pəˈdæn.tɪk/
"pedantic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pedantic” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #43,834 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #43,834
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pedantic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pəˈdæn.tɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #43,834 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pedantic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pedantic is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈdæn.tɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #43,834 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for pedantic, with forms such as "epdantic", "pdeantic", and "peadntic". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. 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 pedant + -ic. The correct English form is pedantic, spelled P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
- 2Tending to show off one’s knowledge, often in a tiresome manner.
Etymology
From pedant + -ic.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: epdantic,pdeantic,peadntic,pedanitc,pedanntic,pedantci,pedanticc,pedanttic,pedatnic,peddantic,pednatic,ppedantic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pedantic - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “pedantic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈdæn.tɪk/ (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.