sycophant
/ˈsɪkəfænt/
"sycophant" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sycophant” is uncommon English (frequency #75,466 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,466
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who uses obsequious compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage from another; a servile flatterer.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sycophant · sycophant · English
sycophant · rank #75,466 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #75,466
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Swope
Nearest frequency peer: Swope (-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 “sycophant”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Swales
Swales
24,537 corpus weight
- Swope
Swope
24,536 corpus weight
- sycophant
sycophant
24,535 corpus weight
- Taguchi
Taguchi
24,534 corpus weight
- Takao
Takao
24,533 corpus weight
- Tanna
Tanna
24,532 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sycophant” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sycophant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪkəfænt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #75,466 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sycophant” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sycophant is uncommon English at frequency #75,466 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɪkəfænt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for sycophant in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1537. From Latin sȳcophanta (“informer, trickster”), from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophántēs), itself from σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I show, demonstrate”). The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made b… The correct English form is sycophant, spelled S-Y-C-O-P-H-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1One who uses obsequious compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage from another; a servile flatterer.
- 2One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.
- 3An informer; a talebearer.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sycophant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A sycophant will everything admire: / Each verse, each sentence, sets his soul on fire
VVhile a mean Crovvd of Sycophants attend, / And favvn and flatter, creep and cringe and bend; / The Fav'rite bleſſes his ſuperior State, / Riſes o'er all, and hails Himſelf the Great.
Etymology
First attested in 1537. From Latin sȳcophanta (“informer, trickster”), from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophántēs), itself from σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I show, demonstrate”). The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, which is itself symbolic of a σῦκον (sûkon), which also meant vulva. The story behind this etymology is that politicians in ancient Greece steered clear of displaying that vulgar gesture, but secretly urged their followers to taunt their opponents by using it. Cognate with Italian sicofante, Spanish sicofanta.
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); 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sycophant", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).