servile
/ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/
"servile" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“servile” is an uncommon English word, ranked #56,425 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #56,425
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Excessively eager to please; obsequious.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | servile |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #56,425 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “servile” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for servile is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #56,425 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for servile in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”). By surface analysis, serve + -ile. The correct English form is servile, spelled S-E-R-V-I-L-E.
Definition
- 1Excessively eager to please; obsequious.
- 2Slavish or submissive.
- 3Slavish or submissive.
- 4Not belonging to the original root.
- 5Not sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, like the e in tune.
Etymology
From Middle English servyle, from Old French servil, servile, from Latin servīlis, from servus (“slave”). By surface analysis, serve + -ile.
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 “servile”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-R-V-I-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɜː(ɹ)ˌvaɪl/ (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.