ancilla
/ænˈsɪ.lə/
"ancilla" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ancilla” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A maid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ancilla · ancilla · English
ancilla · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 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 | ancilla |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ænˈsɪ.lə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ancilla” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ancilla is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ænˈsɪ.lə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ancilla, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin ancilla (“maid, slave-girl”). The correct English form is ancilla, spelled A-N-C-I-L-L-A.
Definition
- 1A maid.
- 2An auxiliary or accessory
- 3An ancilla bit
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ancilla appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
‘And pass me that towel,’ added Ada, but the ancilla was picking up coins she had dropped in her haste […]
The filter achieves this two-qubit filtering effect by using two ancilla photons as probes that detect whether or not the two input photons are in the desired states.
Etymology
From Latin ancilla (“maid, slave-girl”).
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.