videlicet
/vɪˈdɛlɪsɛt/
"videlicet" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“videlicet” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Namely, to wit, that is to say (used when clarifying or naming the preceding item or topic)
Corpus desk
Index EN-videlicet · videlicet · English
videlicet · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | videlicet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /vɪˈdɛlɪsɛt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “videlicet” in English
Rare enough to double-check
videlicet is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed /vɪˈdɛlɪsɛt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Namely, to wit, that is to say (used when clarifying or naming the preceding item or topic)".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for videlicet, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin vidēlicet, which itself is a contraction of vidēre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see". The correct English form is videlicet, spelled V-I-D-E-L-I-C-E-T.
Definition
- 1Namely, to wit, that is to say (used when clarifying or naming the preceding item or topic)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how videlicet appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Videlicet,a Brothell, or ſo forth.
—[…]My father did speak much of the day he was not speedily to forget, videlicet May Day of 1517, when there was great apprentice rioting against insolent foreigners.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin vidēlicet, which itself is a contraction of vidēre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see".
Synonyms
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.