Thucydides

/θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/

//θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz// name

"thucydides" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Thucydides” is uncommon English (frequency #62,571 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,571
frequency rank, English
27,828
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A great ancient Greek historian (c. 460 BCE – c. 395 BCE) and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BCE war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BCE.

Key facts for Thucydides
PropertyValue
HeadwordThucydides
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/
Letters10
Frequency rank#62,571
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Thucydides” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Thucydides is uncommon English at frequency #62,571 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A great ancient Greek historian (c. 460 BCE – c. 395 BCE) and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BCE war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BCE.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Thucydides, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Thūcȳdidēs, from Ancient Greek Θουκυδίδης (Thoukudídēs), from θεός (theós, “ruler, god”) + κῦδος (kûdos, “glory”) + -ῐ́δης (-ĭ́dēs, patronymic suffix). The correct English form is Thucydides, spelled T-H-U-C-Y-D-I-D-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A great ancient Greek historian (c. 460 BCE – c. 395 BCE) and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BCE war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BCE.

Etymology

From Latin Thūcȳdidēs, from Ancient Greek Θουκυδίδης (Thoukudídēs), from θεός (theós, “ruler, god”) + κῦδος (kûdos, “glory”) + -ῐ́δης (-ĭ́dēs, patronymic suffix).

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 "Thucydides"?
"Thucydides" is spelled T-H-U-C-Y-D-I-D-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is /θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/.
What does "Thucydides" mean?
As a proper noun, "Thucydides" means: A great ancient Greek historian (c. 460 BCE – c. 395 BCE) and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BCE war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BCE.
How do you pronounce "Thucydides"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Thucydides" is /θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/. 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 "Thucydides"?
From Latin Thūcȳdidēs, from Ancient Greek Θουκυδίδης (Thoukudídēs), from θεός (theós, “ruler, god”) + κῦδος (kûdos, “glory”) + -ῐ́δης (-ĭ́dēs, patronymic suffix). 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.

Using “Thucydides”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-H-U-C-Y-D-I-D-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list