Arcturus
/ɑɹkˈtjʊəɹəs/
"arcturus" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Arcturus” is uncommon English (frequency #83,978 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,978
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A bright yellow-orange star in the constellation Boötes; Alpha (α) Boötis. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky.
Corpus desk
Index EN-arcturus · Arcturus · English
Arcturus · rank #83,978 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,978
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH arithmetical
Nearest frequency peer: arithmetical (+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 “Arcturus”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Apennines
Apennines
16,028 corpus weight
- arbutus
arbutus
16,026 corpus weight
- Arcturus
Arcturus
16,023 corpus weight
- arithmetical
arithmetical
16,022 corpus weight
- Arminian
Arminian
16,021 corpus weight
- askance
askance
16,019 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Arcturus” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Arcturus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ɑɹkˈtjʊəɹəs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #83,978 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Arcturus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Arcturus is uncommon English at frequency #83,978 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ɑɹkˈtjʊəɹəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A bright yellow-orange star in the constellation Boötes; Alpha (α) Boötis. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Arcturus, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin Arctūrus. The correct English form is Arcturus, spelled A-R-C-T-U-R-U-S.
Definition
- 1A bright yellow-orange star in the constellation Boötes; Alpha (α) Boötis. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Arcturus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
When humanity activated the Charon Mass Relay in 2149, it led to Arcturus, 36 light years from Sol, Earth's sun. Arcturus is the third brightest star seen from Earth. It is an ancient red giant from the generation born before Sol.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin Arctūrus.
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 "Arcturus", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).