waist
/weɪst/
"waist" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“waist” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,635 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,635
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | waist |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /weɪst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,635 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “waist” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for waist is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /weɪst/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,635 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for waist, with forms such as "awist", "waisst", and "waistt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "was", "wit", "wat", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to multiply, i… The correct English form is waist, spelled W-A-I-S-T.
Definition
- 1The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
- 2A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
- 3The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
- 4The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
- 5That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
- 6The middle part of anything.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle English wacste (“growth, increase, might, power”), Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awist,waisst,waistt,wasit,wiast,wwaist
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of waist - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Using “waist”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-I-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /weɪst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “was” - see the side-by-side comparison. waist vs was
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.