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visit

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

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "visit", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "visit" 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 "visit" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

visit is aEnglishverb. It means: To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) Pronounced /ˈvɪzɪt/. It ranks #980 in English word frequency. Often confused with Vit and vivid.

Key facts for visit
PropertyValue
Headwordvisit
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈvɪzɪt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#980
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for visit is 5 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvɪzɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #980 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for visit, with forms such as "ivsit", "viist", and "visitt". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "Vit", "vivid", "vista", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced native Old Engl… 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 visit, spelled V-I-S-I-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  2. 2
    To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.
  3. 3
    Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  4. 4
    To punish, to inflict harm upon (someone or something).
  5. 5
    Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).
  6. 6
    To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) on or upon someone.
  7. 7
    To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  8. 8
    To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.

Etymology

From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced native Old English sēċan (“to visit”) and sōcn (“a visit”). The noun is from French visite or the verb. Doublet of visite.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ivsit,viist,visitt,vissit,visti,vsiit,vvisit

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for visit

Misspelling Variants of "visit"

ivsit5viist5visitt6vissit6visti5vsiit5vvisit6
Misspelling Variants of "visit"

Frequency rank: #980 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "visit"?
"visit" is spelled V-I-S-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈvɪzɪt/.
What does "visit" mean?
As a verb, "visit" means: To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
What words are commonly confused with "visit"?
"visit" is commonly confused with "Vit", "vivid", "vista". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "visit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "visit" is /ˈvɪzɪt/. 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 "visit"?
From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced nativ... 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 V in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.