acephalous
/əˈsɛfələs/
"acephalous" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acephalous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having no head.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acephalous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈsɛfələs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “acephalous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
acephalous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əˈsɛfələs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
acephalous has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous. The correct English form is acephalous, spelled A-C-E-P-H-A-L-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Having no head.
- 2Without a distinct head.
- 3Having the style spring from the base, instead of from the apex, as is the case in certain ovaries
- 4A system of society without centralised state authority, where power is welded amongst groups of community entities e.g. clans. Without a leader or chief.
- 5Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.
- 6Lacking the first portion of the text. (of a manuscript)
- 7Without a beginning.
Etymology
From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "acephalous"?
What does "acephalous" mean?
How do you pronounce "acephalous"?
What is the origin of the word "acephalous"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “acephalous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-E-P-H-A-L-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈsɛfələs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.