self-effacing
"self-effacing" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“self-effacing” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | self-effacing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “self-effacing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for self-effacing is 13 letters long, classified as an adjective. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.".
Zero misspellings are on record for self-effacing in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From self- + effacing. The correct English form is self-effacing, spelled S-E-L-F---E-F-F-A-C-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.
Etymology
From self- + effacing.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “self-effacing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-L-F---E-F-F-A-C-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.