amplexus
"amplexus" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amplexus” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.
Corpus desk
Index EN-amplexus · amplexus · English
amplexus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amplexus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “amplexus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
amplexus is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for amplexus in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Latin amplexus (“embrace”). The correct English form is amplexus, spelled A-M-P-L-E-X-U-S.
Definition
- 1A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.
- 2In vernation, the situation where two sides of one leaf overlap the two sides of the one above it.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how amplexus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber frogs locked in amplexus—the amphibian version of sex.
In the middle, just below the surface, a male and a female were locked in amplexus, a coupling that can last for days as the male waits to fertilise the eggs when they are laid.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin amplexus (“embrace”).
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.