public
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "public", 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 "public" 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 "public" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
public is anEnglishadj. It means: Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view. Pronounced /ˈpʌblɪk/. It ranks #243 in English word frequency. Often confused with publish and publicly.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | public |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /ˈpʌblɪk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #243 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for public is 6 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpʌblɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #243 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for public, with forms such as "pbulic", "ppublic", and "pubblic". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "publish", "publicly", "pubic", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective and noun are derived from Late Middle English publik, publike (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public or public affairs; (noun) a generally observable place or situation”), from Anglo-Norman public, publik, p… 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 public, spelled P-U-B-L-I-C, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.
- 2Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.
- 3Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.
- 4Pertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.
- 5Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community, rather than by a private organization.
- 6Pertaining to a person in the capacity in which they deal with other people on a formal or official basis, as opposed to a personal or private capacity; official, professional.
- 7Of an object: accessible to the program in general, not only to a class or subclass.
- 8Pertaining to nations collectively, or to nations regarded as civilized; international, supernational.
- 9Now chiefly in public spirit and public-spirited: seeking to further the best interests or well-being of the community or nation.
- 10Now only in public figure: famous, prominent, well-known.
- 11In some older universities in the United Kingdom: open or pertaining to the whole university, as opposed to a constituent college or an individual staff member or student.
- 12Of or pertaining to the human race as a whole; common, universal.
- 13Chiefly in make public: of a work: printed or otherwise published.
Etymology
The adjective and noun are derived from Late Middle English publik, publike (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public or public affairs; (noun) a generally observable place or situation”), from Anglo-Norman public, publik, publique, Middle French public, publique, and Old French public (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public; official; (noun) community or its members collectively; nation, state; audience, spectators collectively”) (modern French public, publique (obsolete)); and from their etymon Latin pūblicus (“of or belonging to the community, people, or state; general, public”), an alteration of poplicus (influenced by pūbēs (“adult men; male population”)), from poplus (“community; the people, public; nation, state”) (later populus; from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”); further origin uncertain, possibly from Etruscan or from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Related to people, populus, etc. The Middle English word displaced native Old English ceorlfolc and folclic. The verb is derived from the adjective.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pbulic,ppublic,pubblic,pubilc,publci,publicc,publlic,pulbic,upblic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for public
Misspelling Variants of "public"
Frequency rank: #243 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "public"?
What does "public" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "public"?
How do you pronounce "public"?
What is the origin of the word "public"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: