tortfeasance
/ˈtɔːtˌfiːzəns/
"tortfeasance" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tortfeasance” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The condition, or an act, of doing wrong; the act of committing a tort.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tortfeasance · tortfeasance · English
tortfeasance · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tortfeasance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɔːtˌfiːzəns/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tortfeasance” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tortfeasance is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɔːtˌfiːzəns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The condition, or an act, of doing wrong; the act of committing a tort.".
tortfeasance has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman tortfesance, from Old French tort (“a misdeed, a wrong”) + fesance (“act, action, deed”). The correct English form is tortfeasance, spelled T-O-R-T-F-E-A-S-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The condition, or an act, of doing wrong; the act of committing a tort.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tortfeasance appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The defendant's tort-feasance is now set forth with the damage, and the plaintiff says, that the defendant with an intention to injure him in the enjoyment of his commonable estate, during the time of his being so entitled to his common, wrongfully put and depastured several cattle on the waste there, in consequence of which, he has been unable to make us…
Among the various matters of which, either from ancient authors or the testimony of grammarians, we know the Thesmothetæ to have had cognizance, are the following— […] Also a great variety of civil actions; as those for the recovery of land, houses, and mesne profits: actions for debt, deposit, breach of contract, abusive language, damage or tort-feasance…
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman tortfesance, from Old French tort (“a misdeed, a wrong”) + fesance (“act, action, deed”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.