turpitude
/ˈtɜː(ɹ)pɪtjuːd/
"turpitude" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“turpitude” is uncommon English (frequency #86,877 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,877
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Inherent baseness, depravity or wickedness; corruptness and evilness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-turpitude · turpitude · English
turpitude · rank #86,877 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,877
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH Tuzla
Nearest frequency peer: Tuzla (+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 “turpitude”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- tribble
tribble
13,130 corpus weight
- TTD
TTD
13,127 corpus weight
- turpitude
turpitude
13,124 corpus weight
- Tuzla
Tuzla
13,123 corpus weight
- twixt
twixt
13,121 corpus weight
- Ujjain
Ujjain
13,116 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “turpitude” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | turpitude |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɜː(ɹ)pɪtjuːd/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #86,877 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “turpitude” in English
Rare enough to double-check
turpitude is uncommon English at frequency #86,877 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɜː(ɹ)pɪtjuːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for turpitude in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French turpitude, from Latin turpitūdō (“baseness, infamy”), from turpis (“foul, base”). The correct English form is turpitude, spelled T-U-R-P-I-T-U-D-E.
Definition
- 1Inherent baseness, depravity or wickedness; corruptness and evilness.
- 2An act evident of such depravity.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how turpitude appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French turpitude, from Latin turpitūdō (“baseness, infamy”), from turpis (“foul, base”).
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 "turpitude", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).