atomy
/ˈætəmi/
"atomy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“atomy” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
Corpus desk
Index EN-atomy · atomy · English
atomy · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 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 | atomy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈætəmi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “atomy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
atomy is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈætəmi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
atomy doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: A variant of atomi, the plural of atomus (“hypothetical particle posited as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter; mote of dust in a sunbeam”) treated as a singular form. Atomus is derived from Latin atomus, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “ind… The correct English form is atomy, spelled A-T-O-M-Y.
Definition
- 1A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
- 2A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
- 3A tiny particle; an atom, a mote, a speck.
- 4A very small being; a mite.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how atomy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Thou tellſt me there is murder in mine eye, / 'Tis pretty ſure, and very probable, / That eyes, that are the frailſt and ſofteſt things, / VVho ſhut their covvard gates on atomyes, / Should be called tyrants, butchers, murtherers.
[…] Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. […] Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.
Etymology
A variant of atomi, the plural of atomus (“hypothetical particle posited as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter; mote of dust in a sunbeam”) treated as a singular form. Atomus is derived from Latin atomus, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”, adjective), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having an opposite sense) + τομ- (tom-) (stem of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns of action or result). Doublet of atom.
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.