simony
/ˈsaɪ.mə.ni/
"simony" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“simony” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The buying or selling of spiritual or sacred things, such as ecclesiastical offices, pardons, or consecrated objects.
Corpus desk
Index EN-simony · simony · English
simony · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | simony |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsaɪ.mə.ni/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “simony” in English
Rare enough to double-check
simony is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsaɪ.mə.ni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The buying or selling of spiritual or sacred things, such as ecclesiastical offices, pardons, or consecrated objects.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for simony, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English simonie, symonye, from Old French simonie, from Late Latin simonia, named after Simon Magus (Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן (Šimʻôn, “Simon”)), with reference to Acts 8:18–20. The correct English form is simony, spelled S-I-M-O-N-Y.
Definition
- 1The buying or selling of spiritual or sacred things, such as ecclesiastical offices, pardons, or consecrated objects.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how simony appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
To his eyes it had no attraction; it savoured of simony, and was likely to bring down upon him harder and more deserved strictures than any he had yet received: he positively declined to become vicar of Puddingdale under any circumstances.
‘There are those two,’ he then said, ‘who were recently arraigned on a charge of high simony. Fancying a monstrance and stealing it and proposing to sell it. They pleaded the usual pagan ignorance.’
Etymology
From Middle English simonie, symonye, from Old French simonie, from Late Latin simonia, named after Simon Magus (Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן (Šimʻôn, “Simon”)), with reference to Acts 8:18–20.
Synonyms
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.