astern
/əˈstɝn/
"astern" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“astern” is uncommon English (frequency #51,548 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,548
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Behind (a vessel); in the rear.
Corpus desk
Index EN-astern · astern · English
astern · rank #51,548 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,548
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH ATPase
Nearest frequency peer: ATPase (+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 “astern”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Ashish
Ashish
48,456 corpus weight
- Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi
48,455 corpus weight
- astern
astern
48,453 corpus weight
- ATPase
ATPase
48,452 corpus weight
- Audra
Audra
48,451 corpus weight
- autofocus
autofocus
48,450 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “astern” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | astern |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /əˈstɝn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #51,548 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “astern” in English
Rare enough to double-check
astern is uncommon English at frequency #51,548 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadverb, transcribed /əˈstɝn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
astern doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a- (“towards”) + stern (“rear part of a vessel”). The correct English form is astern, spelled A-S-T-E-R-N.
Definition
- 1Behind (a vessel); in the rear.
- 2In the direction of the stern; backward (motion); to the rear.
- 3At or toward the rear of a vessel.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how astern appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
After we had row'd, or rather driven about a League and a Half, as we reckon'd it, a raging Wave, Mountain-like, came rowling a-stern of us, and plainly bad us expect the Coup-de-Grace.
Etymology
From a- (“towards”) + stern (“rear part of a vessel”).
Antonyms
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 "astern", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).