afterbirth
/ˈæf.tɚ.bɚθ/
"afterbirth" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“afterbirth” is uncommon English (frequency #92,308 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,308
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The placenta and other material expelled via the birth canal following childbirth or parturition in mammals.
Corpus desk
Index EN-afterbirth · afterbirth · English
afterbirth · rank #92,308 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #92,308
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH Adlington
Nearest frequency peer: Adlington (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “afterbirth”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- addenda
addenda
7,697 corpus weight
- adduct
adduct
7,696 corpus weight
- Ades
Ades
7,695 corpus weight
- Adlington
Adlington
7,694 corpus weight
- afterbirth
afterbirth
7,693 corpus weight
- agoraphobic
agoraphobic
7,691 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “afterbirth” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | afterbirth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæf.tɚ.bɚθ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #92,308 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “afterbirth” in English
Rare enough to double-check
afterbirth is uncommon English at frequency #92,308 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæf.tɚ.bɚθ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The placenta and other material expelled via the birth canal following childbirth or parturition in mammals.".
afterbirth doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From after- + birth (in the sense of delivery). Cognate with Danish efterbyrd (“afterbirth”), Swedish efterbörd (“afterbirth”). Compare also afterburden, afterburthen. The correct English form is afterbirth, spelled A-F-T-E-R-B-I-R-T-H.
Definition
- 1The placenta and other material expelled via the birth canal following childbirth or parturition in mammals.
Etymology
From after- + birth (in the sense of delivery). Cognate with Danish efterbyrd (“afterbirth”), Swedish efterbörd (“afterbirth”). Compare also afterburden, afterburthen.
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); 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "afterbirth", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).