resipiscence
/ˌɹɛsɪˈpɪsn̩(t)s/
Detailed reference entry for the English word "resipiscence", 12-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "resipiscence" 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 "resipiscence" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“resipiscence” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — Recognition of one or more past mistakes, especially with a desire to improve in the future; repentance; (countable) an instance of this.
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Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | resipiscence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɹɛsɪˈpɪsn̩(t)s/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “resipiscence” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for resipiscence is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɹɛsɪˈpɪsn̩(t)s/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for resipiscence in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Middle French resipiscence (“act of recovering one’s senses or coming back to a more acceptable view; repentance”) (modern French résipiscence), or from its etymon Late Latin resipīscentia (“regaining of a clear state of mind, repen… 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 resipiscence, spelled R-E-S-I-P-I-S-C-E-N-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Recognition of one or more past mistakes, especially with a desire to improve in the future; repentance; (countable) an instance of this.
- 2The act of becoming comprehending, reasonable or responsible, especially after having behaved in an uncomprehending, unreasonable, or irresponsible manner; the act of coming to one's senses; (countable) an instance of this.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Middle French resipiscence (“act of recovering one’s senses or coming back to a more acceptable view; repentance”) (modern French résipiscence), or from its etymon Late Latin resipīscentia (“regaining of a clear state of mind, repentance”), from Latin resipīscēns + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Resipīscēns is the present participle of resipīscō (“to recover one’s senses; to revive”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + sapiō (“to have flavour or taste; (figurative) to have good taste or discernment; to be sensible or wise”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”)) + -īscō (a variant of -ēscō (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘becoming [something]’)).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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PlainSpell, “resipiscence, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/resipiscence
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Using “resipiscence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-S-I-P-I-S-C-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɹɛsɪˈpɪsn̩(t)s/ (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
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: