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unbidden

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "unbidden", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "unbidden" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "unbidden" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

unbidden is anEnglishadj. It means: not invited, requested or asked for Pronounced /ʌnˈbɪd.ən/.

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Key facts for unbidden
PropertyValue
Headwordunbidden
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ʌnˈbɪd.ən/
Letters8
Frequency rank#87,938
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of unbidden in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for unbidden is 8 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʌnˈbɪd.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #87,938 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "not invited, requested or asked for".

No misspelling variants are generated for unbidden in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + bidden. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is unbidden, spelled U-N-B-I-D-D-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    not invited, requested or asked for

Etymology

From un- + bidden.

Frequency rank: #87,938 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "unbidden"?
"unbidden" is spelled U-N-B-I-D-D-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ʌnˈbɪd.ən/.
What does "unbidden" mean?
As an adj, "unbidden" means: not invited, requested or asked for
How do you pronounce "unbidden"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "unbidden" is /ʌnˈbɪd.ən/. 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 "unbidden"?
From un- + bidden. 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter U in our English index:

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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.