size
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "size", 4-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 "size" 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 "size" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
size is aEnglishnoun. It means: The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is. Pronounced /saɪz/. It ranks #778 in English word frequency. Often confused with sue and SME.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | size |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /saɪz/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #778 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for size is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /saɪz/. Corpus data places it at rank #778 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for size, with forms such as "isze", "siez", and "sizze". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sue", "SME", "SSE", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since the 14th century, originally meant a “law or regulation that determines the amount to be paid”, from Middle English syse, sise (“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise (“assize”), from the verb asseoir (“… 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 size, spelled S-I-Z-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.
- 2A specific set of dimensions for a manufactured article, especially clothing.
- 3The number of edges in a graph.
- 4Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
- 5An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls
- 6Ellipsis of chili size (“hamburger served with chili con carne”).
- 7An assize.
- 8A regulation, piece of ordinance.
- 9A regulation determining the amount of money paid in fees, taxes etc.
- 10A fixed standard for the magnitude, quality, quantity etc. of goods, especially food and drink.
Etymology
Attested since the 14th century, originally meant a “law or regulation that determines the amount to be paid”, from Middle English syse, sise (“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise (“assize”), from the verb asseoir (“to sit down”), from Latin assidēre, composed of ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit; settle down”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed-. Displaced native Old English miċelnes (literally “bigness”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: isze,siez,sizze,ssize,szie
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for size
Misspelling Variants of "size"
Frequency rank: #778 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: