astrolabe
/ˈæs.tɹəˌleɪb/
"astrolabe" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“astrolabe” is an uncommon English word, ranked #71,292 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #71,292
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An astronomical and navigational instrument for gauging the altitude of the Sun and stars.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | astrolabe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæs.tɹəˌleɪb/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #71,292 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “astrolabe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for astrolabe is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæs.tɹəˌleɪb/. Corpus data places it at rank #71,292 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An astronomical and navigational instrument for gauging the altitude of the Sun and stars.".
No misspelling variants are generated for astrolabe in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English astrelabie et al., from Middle French astrolabe, Old French astrelabe, from Ancient Greek ἀστρολάβος (astrolábos, “star-taking”), from ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “I take”). The correct English form is astrolabe, spelled A-S-T-R-O-L-A-B-E.
Definition
- 1An astronomical and navigational instrument for gauging the altitude of the Sun and stars.
Etymology
From Middle English astrelabie et al., from Middle French astrolabe, Old French astrelabe, from Ancient Greek ἀστρολάβος (astrolábos, “star-taking”), from ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “I take”).
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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Using “astrolabe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-T-R-O-L-A-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæs.tɹəˌleɪb/ (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.