sergeant
/ˈsɑː.d͡ʒənt/
"sergeant" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sergeant” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,010 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,010
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
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 | sergeant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɑː.d͡ʒənt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,010 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sergeant” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sergeant is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɑː.d͡ʒənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,010 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for sergeant, with forms such as "esrgeant", "segreant", and "seregant". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "servant", "serpent", "Sargent", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviēns (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparito… The correct English form is sergeant, spelled S-E-R-G-E-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
- 2The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
- 3A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
- 4A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
- 5A bailiff.
- 6A servant in monastic offices.
- 7A fish, the píntano (Abudefduf saxatilis), a species of damselfish.
- 8Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Athyma; distinct from the false sergeants.
Etymology
From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviēns (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient. The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ was a regular development in Old French. Compare cavea > cage, salvia > sage. The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank. The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esrgeant,segreant,seregant,sergaent,sergeannt,sergeantt,sergeatn,sergenat,serggeant,serrgeant,sregeant,ssergeant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sergeant - 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
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Using “sergeant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-R-G-E-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɑː.d͡ʒənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “servant” - see the side-by-side comparison. sergeant vs servant
- 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.