scissors
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "scissors", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "scissors" 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 "scissors" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
scissors is aEnglishnoun. It means: A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two crossing blades attached at a pivot point in such a way that the blades slide across each other when the handles are closed. Pronounced /ˈsɪzɚz/. Often confused with scissor.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scissors |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪzɚz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #13,418 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scissors is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪzɚz/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,418 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for scissors, with forms such as "csissors", "sccissors", and "scisors". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "scissor", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sisours (attested since 1350–1400), from Old French cisoirs, from Late Latin cīsōria, plural of cīsōrium (“cutting tool”); from Latin word root -cīsus (compare excise) or caesus, past participle of caedō (“to cut”). Partially displaced n… 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 scissors, spelled S-C-I-S-S-O-R-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A tool used for cutting thin material, consisting of two crossing blades attached at a pivot point in such a way that the blades slide across each other when the handles are closed.
- 2A type of defensive maneuver in dogfighting, involving repeatedly turning one's aircraft towards that of the attacker in order to force them to overshoot.
- 3An instance of the above dogfighting maneuver.
- 4An attacking move conducted by two players; the player without the ball runs from one side of the ball carrier, behind the ball carrier, and receives a pass from the ball carrier on the other side.
- 5A method of skating with one foot significantly in front of the other.
- 6An exercise in which the legs are switched back and forth, suggesting the motion of scissors.
- 7A scissors hold.
- 8A hand with the index and middle fingers open (a handshape resembling scissors), that beats paper and loses to rock. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
Etymology
From Middle English sisours (attested since 1350–1400), from Old French cisoirs, from Late Latin cīsōria, plural of cīsōrium (“cutting tool”); from Latin word root -cīsus (compare excise) or caesus, past participle of caedō (“to cut”). Partially displaced native Old English sċēara (“scissors, shears”), whence shears. Doublet of chisel. The current spelling, from the 16th century, is due to association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor”), from Latin carrying the meaning “carver, cutter”, from scindō (“to split”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csissors,sccissors,scisors,scisosrs,scissorrs,scissorss,scissosr,scissros,scsisors,sicssors,sscissors
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for scissors
Misspelling Variants of "scissors"
Frequency rank: #13,418 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: