vergüenza ajena
The verdict
“vergüenza ajena” is outside the top-ranked Spanish vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency Spanish
- 15
- letters
Dominant Wiktionary sense: Vergüenza que se siente a causa de algo que otro ha dicho o hecho.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vergüenza ajena |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| IPA | [beɾˈɣ̞wẽnsa aˈxena] |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vergüenza ajena” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for vergüenza ajena is 15 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [beɾˈɣ̞wẽnsa aˈxena]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Vergüenza que se siente a causa de algo que otro ha dicho o hecho.".
No misspelling variants are generated for vergüenza ajena in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Spanish patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct Spanish form is vergüenza ajena, spelled V-E-R-G-Ü-E-N-Z-A- -A-J-E-N-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Vergüenza que se siente a causa de algo que otro ha dicho o hecho.
Synonyms
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.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “vergüenza ajena, Spanish word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/es/palabra/verguenza-ajena
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "vergüenza ajena"?
What does "vergüenza ajena" mean?
How do you pronounce "vergüenza ajena"?
What language does "vergüenza ajena" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “vergüenza ajena”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is V-E-R-G-Ü-E-N-Z-A- -A-J-E-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [beɾˈɣ̞wẽnsa aˈxena] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Nearby Spanish words
Other entries that begin with the letter V in our Spanish index: