salacious
/səˈleɪ.ʃəs/
"salacious" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“salacious” is an uncommon English word, ranked #55,713 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #55,713
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Promoting sexual desire or lust.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | salacious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /səˈleɪ.ʃəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #55,713 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “salacious” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for salacious is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səˈleɪ.ʃəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #55,713 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for salacious in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Derived from Latin salāx, salācis (“provocative, lustful”) + -ious. The correct English form is salacious, spelled S-A-L-A-C-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Promoting sexual desire or lust.
- 2Lascivious, bawdy, obscene, lewd.
Etymology
Derived from Latin salāx, salācis (“provocative, lustful”) + -ious.
Synonyms
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); 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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Using “salacious”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-L-A-C-I-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səˈleɪ.ʃəs/ (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
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.