amygdala
/əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/
"amygdala" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amygdala” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,183 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #35,183
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amygdala |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #35,183 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “amygdala” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for amygdala is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,183 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for amygdala, with forms such as "amgydala", "ammygdala", and "amydgala". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē)bor. ▲ Arabic لَوْز (lawz)sl. Medieval Latin amygdalalbor. English amygdala Learned borrowing from Latin amygdala (“almond, amygdala”), from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”), named as such due to it… The correct English form is amygdala, spelled A-M-Y-G-D-A-L-A.
Definition
- 1Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.
Etymology
Etymology tree Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē)bor. ▲ Arabic لَوْز (lawz)sl. Medieval Latin amygdalalbor. English amygdala Learned borrowing from Latin amygdala (“almond, amygdala”), from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”), named as such due to its shape. Doublet of almond, amygdale, and mandorla.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amgydala,ammygdala,amydgala,amygadla,amygdaal,amygdalla,amygddala,amygdlaa,amyggdala,amyygdala,aymgdala,maygdala
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of amygdala - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “amygdala”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-M-Y-G-D-A-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/ (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.