timid
/ˈtɪmɪd/
"timid" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“timid” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,098 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #21,098
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Lacking in courage or confidence.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | timid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtɪmɪd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #21,098 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “timid” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for timid is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɪmɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,098 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Lacking in courage or confidence.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for timid, with forms such as "itmid", "tiimd", and "timdi". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "TMI", "tired", "Timmy", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French timide, from Latin timidus (“full of fear, fearful, timid”), from timeō (“to fear”). The correct English form is timid, spelled T-I-M-I-D.
Definition
- 1Lacking in courage or confidence.
Etymology
From Middle French timide, from Latin timidus (“full of fear, fearful, timid”), from timeō (“to fear”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: itmid,tiimd,timdi,timidd,timmid,tmiid,ttimid
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of timid - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “timid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-I-M-I-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɪmɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “TMI” - see the side-by-side comparison. timid vs TMI
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.