vagary
/vəˈɡɛɚ.i/
"vagary" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vagary” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
Corpus desk
Index EN-vagary · vagary · English
vagary · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "V" 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 | vagary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /vəˈɡɛɚ.i/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “vagary” in English
Rare enough to double-check
vagary is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /vəˈɡɛɚ.i/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for vagary in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Italian vagare (“wander”) and/or its source Latin vagārī (“to wander”), from Latin vagus (“wandering”). Later apparently reinterpreted in English as vague + -ery but without changing the spelling. The correct English form is vagary, spelled V-A-G-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
- 2Something vague.
- 3An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how vagary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and o…
This searching was facilitated by the author's knowledge of the vagaries of Anglo-Indian spelling and the numerous colonial-era transliteration systems used for loanwords from Indian languages.
Etymology
From Italian vagare (“wander”) and/or its source Latin vagārī (“to wander”), from Latin vagus (“wandering”). Later apparently reinterpreted in English as vague + -ery but without changing the spelling.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.