atrophy
/ˈæt.ɹə.fi/
"atrophy" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“atrophy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,921 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,921
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | atrophy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #29,921 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “atrophy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for atrophy is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,921 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for atrophy, with forms such as "artophy", "atorphy", and "atrohpy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French atrophie, from Latin atrophia, from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), from ἄτροφος (átrophos, “ill-fed, un-nourished”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”), from τρέφω (tréphō, “I fatten”). Equivalent t… The correct English form is atrophy, spelled A-T-R-O-P-H-Y.
Definition
- 1A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use.
Etymology
Borrowed from French atrophie, from Latin atrophia, from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), from ἄτροφος (átrophos, “ill-fed, un-nourished”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”), from τρέφω (tréphō, “I fatten”). Equivalent to a- + -trophy.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: artophy,atorphy,atrohpy,atrophhy,atrophyy,atropphy,atropyh,atrpohy,atrrophy,attrophy,tarophy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of atrophy - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “atrophy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-T-R-O-P-H-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/ (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.