unknowing
"unknowing" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“unknowing” is uncommon English (frequency #52,699 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,699
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without knowing; ignorant.
Corpus desk
Index EN-unknowing · unknowing · English
unknowing · rank #52,699 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,699
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unnerved
Nearest frequency peer: unnerved (+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 “unknowing”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- uneasiness
uneasiness
47,306 corpus weight
- unfailing
unfailing
47,305 corpus weight
- unfavorably
unfavorably
47,304 corpus weight
- unknowing
unknowing
47,302 corpus weight
- unnerved
unnerved
47,301 corpus weight
- untie
untie
47,300 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “unknowing” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | unknowing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #52,699 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “unknowing” in English
Rare enough to double-check
unknowing is uncommon English at frequency #52,699 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for unknowing, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From un- + knowing. The correct English form is unknowing, spelled U-N-K-N-O-W-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Without knowing; ignorant.
- 2Unknown, unbeknownst (to someone).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how unknowing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And when they had fulfilled the dayes, as they returned home, the chylde Jesus boode styll in hierusalem, vnknowinge to his father and mother.
Etymology
From un- + knowing.
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 "unknowing", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).