sacristan
/ˈsækɹɪstən/
"sacristan" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sacristan” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The person who maintains the sacristy and the sacred objects it contains.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sacristan · sacristan · English
sacristan · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sacristan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsækɹɪstən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sacristan” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sacristan is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsækɹɪstən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The person who maintains the sacristy and the sacred objects it contains.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for sacristan, 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 usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French sacristain, Late Latin sacrista, from Latin sacer. Doublet of sexton. The correct English form is sacristan, spelled S-A-C-R-I-S-T-A-N.
Definition
- 1The person who maintains the sacristy and the sacred objects it contains.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sacristan appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And hence the custom and law began That still at dawn the sacristan, Who duly pulls the heavy bell, Five and forty beads must tell Between each stroke
[…] every evening as the temple was closed for the night the sacristan paused: "Pindar to supper with the god!" he cried.
Etymology
From French sacristain, Late Latin sacrista, from Latin sacer. Doublet of sexton.
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.