scarlet
/ˈskɑɹlɪt/
"scarlet" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scarlet” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,320 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,320
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scarlet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskɑɹlɪt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #12,320 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scarlet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scarlet is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈskɑɹlɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,320 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.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for scarlet, with forms such as "csarlet", "sacrlet", and "scalret". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "Searle", "scarred", "starlet", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen clot… The correct English form is scarlet, spelled S-C-A-R-L-E-T.
Definition
- 1A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
- 2Cloth of a scarlet color.
Etymology
From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to be used of woollen cloth dyed with the same dye. The Arabic word may itself be derived from Byzantine Greek σιγιλλᾶτον (sigillâton), from Latin sigillātum (“a type of fabric”, literally “sealed; sealing”) .
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csarlet,sacrlet,scalret,scarelt,scarllet,scarlte,scarrlet,sccarlet,scralet,sscarlet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scarlet - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
How do you spell "scarlet"?
What does "scarlet" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "scarlet"?
How do you pronounce "scarlet"?
What is the origin of the word "scarlet"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “scarlet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-A-R-L-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈskɑɹlɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Searle” - see the side-by-side comparison. scarlet vs Searle
- 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.