svelte

/ˈsvɛlt/

//ˈsvɛlt// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"svelte" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“svelte” is uncommon English (frequency #73,680 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,680
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Attractively thin; gracefully slender.

Corpus desk

Index EN-svelte · svelte · English

svelte · rank #73,680 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,680
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Sushma

Nearest frequency peer: Sushma (-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 “svelte”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “svelte” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for svelte
PropertyValue
Headwordsvelte
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈsvɛlt/
Letters6
Frequency rank#73,680
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “svelte” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).sveltefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Sushma” (#73,679), “Swanton” (#73,681), “surfeit” (#73,677). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “svelte” is #73,680. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

svelte is uncommon English at frequency #73,680 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈsvɛlt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for svelte in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French svelte, from Italian svelto (“stretched out”), past participle of svellere (“to pluck out, root out”), from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, from ex + vellere (“to pluck, stretch”). The correct English form is svelte, spelled S-V-E-L-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Attractively thin; gracefully slender.
  2. 2
    Refined, delicate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how svelte appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Psychoanalytic theory[…]seemed to promise to introduce a certain becoming amplitude into discussions of what different people are like — only to turn, in its streamlined trajectory across so many institutional boundaries, into the sveltest of metatheoretical disciplines, sleeked down to such elegant operational entities as the mother, the father, the preo…
  2. Clearly the producers of “The Producers” were so little inclined to tinker with a winning formula that they chose not to excise a few lines of dialogue to accommodate the svelter physique of their new leading man, preposterous though it is that anyone in a fit of pique would deride a fellow as “once-husky.”

Etymology

From French svelte, from Italian svelto (“stretched out”), past participle of svellere (“to pluck out, root out”), from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, from ex + vellere (“to pluck, stretch”).

Synonyms

litheslimwillowyslenderelegantgentle

This word in other languages

esbelto(Español)grazil(Deutsch)esbelto(Português)

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 "svelte"?
"svelte" is spelled S-V-E-L-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsvɛlt/.
What does "svelte" mean?
As an adjective, "svelte" means: Attractively thin; gracefully slender.
How do you pronounce "svelte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "svelte" is /ˈsvɛlt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "svelte"?
From French svelte, from Italian svelto (“stretched out”), past participle of svellere (“to pluck out, root out”), from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, from ex + vellere (“to pluck, stretch”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "svelte", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Sushma#73,679spammy#73,649tilled#73,720Smriti#73,639

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list