relent
/ɹɪˈlɛnt/
"relent" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“relent” is uncommon English (frequency #51,947 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,947
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A stay; a stop; a delay.
Corpus desk
Index EN-relent · relent · English
relent · rank #51,947 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,947
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH Renfrew
Nearest frequency peer: Renfrew (+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 “relent”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- ratatouille
ratatouille
48,058 corpus weight
- raze
raze
48,057 corpus weight
- relent
relent
48,054 corpus weight
- Renfrew
Renfrew
48,053 corpus weight
- retest
retest
48,051 corpus weight
- retrain
retrain
48,050 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “relent” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | relent |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈlɛnt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #51,947 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “relent” in English
Rare enough to double-check
relent is uncommon English at frequency #51,947 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɹɪˈlɛnt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for relent in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English relenten, from Anglo-Norman relentir, from Latin re- + lentare (“to bend”), from lentus (“soft, pliant, slow”). Earliest recording dates to 1526. The correct English form is relent, spelled R-E-L-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1A stay; a stop; a delay.
- 2A relenting.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how relent appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There was no relent, my dear, as we pulled each other in.
The pistons of this engine moved without relent.
Etymology
From Middle English relenten, from Anglo-Norman relentir, from Latin re- + lentare (“to bend”), from lentus (“soft, pliant, slow”). Earliest recording dates to 1526.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "relent", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).