sociolinguistics
/ˌsoʊsi.oʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/
"sociolinguistics" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sociolinguistics” is uncommon English (frequency #79,068 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,068
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The study of social and cultural effects on language and vice-versa.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sociolinguistics · sociolinguistics · English
sociolinguistics · rank #79,068 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,068
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH snowplow
Nearest frequency peer: snowplow (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “sociolinguistics”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- shuttering
shuttering
20,944 corpus weight
- Sisley
Sisley
20,942 corpus weight
- SLM
SLM
20,939 corpus weight
- snowplow
snowplow
20,934 corpus weight
- sociolingui…
sociolinguistics
20,933 corpus weight
- sponging
sponging
20,925 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sociolinguistics” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sociolinguistics |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsoʊsi.oʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Frequency rank | #79,068 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sociolinguistics” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sociolinguistics is uncommon English at frequency #79,068 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsoʊsi.oʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The study of social and cultural effects on language and vice-versa.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sociolinguistics, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From socio- + linguistics. The correct English form is sociolinguistics, spelled S-O-C-I-O-L-I-N-G-U-I-S-T-I-C-S.
Definition
- 1The study of social and cultural effects on language and vice-versa.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how sociolinguistics appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty^([sic]) years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five maj…
Etymology
From socio- + linguistics.
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
How do you spell "sociolinguistics"?
What does "sociolinguistics" mean?
How do you pronounce "sociolinguistics"?
What is the origin of the word "sociolinguistics"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sociolinguistics", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 16 letters (nearest by frequency rank).