autoclave
/ˈɔt.əˌkleɪv/
"autoclave" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“autoclave” is an uncommon English word, ranked #69,655 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #69,655
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A strong, pressurized, heated vessel, as for laboratory experiments, sterilization, cooking or mineral processing.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | autoclave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɔt.əˌkleɪv/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #69,655 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “autoclave” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for autoclave is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɔt.əˌkleɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #69,655 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A strong, pressurized, heated vessel, as for laboratory experiments, sterilization, cooking or mineral processing.".
autoclave has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French autoclave, formed with prefix auto- + Latin clavis (“key”). The correct English form is autoclave, spelled A-U-T-O-C-L-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1A strong, pressurized, heated vessel, as for laboratory experiments, sterilization, cooking or mineral processing.
Etymology
Borrowed from French autoclave, formed with prefix auto- + Latin clavis (“key”).
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
How do you spell "autoclave"?
What does "autoclave" mean?
How do you pronounce "autoclave"?
What is the origin of the word "autoclave"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “autoclave”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-U-T-O-C-L-A-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɔt.əˌkleɪv/ (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.