picaresque

/pɪkəˈɹɛsk/

//pɪkəˈɹɛsk// adj

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

"picaresque" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“picaresque” is uncommon English (frequency #85,648 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,648
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.

Corpus desk

Index EN-picaresque · picaresque · English

picaresque · rank #85,648 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,648
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH photosphere

Nearest frequency peer: photosphere (-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 “picaresque”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for picaresque
PropertyValue
Headwordpicaresque
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/pɪkəˈɹɛsk/
Letters10
Frequency rank#85,648
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “picaresque” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).picaresquefalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “photosphere” (#85,647), “Pieters” (#85,649), “philologist” (#85,644). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “picaresque” is #85,648. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

picaresque is uncommon English at frequency #85,648 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /pɪkəˈɹɛsk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for picaresque in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From picaro (“adventurer, rogue”) + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), modelled after Spanish picaresco (“in the style or manner of a picaro; picaresque”), from pícaro (“rogue”) + -esco (suffix forming adjectives indicat… The correct English form is picaresque, spelled P-I-C-A-R-E-S-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.
  2. 2
    Characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The blue and white of the Murano background and the frankly picaresque tramp seem to form strange bed-fellows for the supper-party below stairs into which any gentleman's gentleman of the siècle de Dr. [Samuel] Johnson might have walked at any moment. [Describing an adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters (1746).]
  2. A mere piece of roguery told in the abstract, without the proper picaresque ornaments, its manifold sinuosities and dexterities, has no interest for the reader; it may recommend the executor of it to the administration of a cat-o-nine-tails, or to an honourable post in the gallies: but there is no music in it without the proper accompaniments.

Etymology

From picaro (“adventurer, rogue”) + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), modelled after Spanish picaresco (“in the style or manner of a picaro; picaresque”), from pícaro (“rogue”) + -esco (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relation). Compare French picaresque (attested later than the English word), Italian picaresco, Portuguese picaresco.

This word in other languages

picaresco(Español)picaresque(Français)pikaresk(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 "picaresque"?
"picaresque" is spelled P-I-C-A-R-E-S-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is /pɪkəˈɹɛsk/.
What does "picaresque" mean?
As an adjective, "picaresque" means: Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.
How do you pronounce "picaresque"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "picaresque" is /pɪkəˈɹɛsk/. 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 "picaresque"?
From picaro (“adventurer, rogue”) + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), modelled after Spanish picaresco (“in the style or manner of a picaro; picaresque”), from pícaro (“rogue”) + -esco (suffix forming adjectiv... 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 "picaresque", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

perfidious#85,638presuppose#85,664Promethean#85,666paraplegia#85,625

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list