balm of Gilead

noun

"balm-of-gilead" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“balm of Gilead” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A rare perfume produced in Gilead and used medicinally, mentioned in the Bible. It is sometimes thought to have come from the plant Commiphora gileadensis, and sometimes from a terebinth tree in th...

Corpus desk

Index EN-balm-of-gilead · balm of Gilead · English

balm of Gilead · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" 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.

Key facts for balm of Gilead
PropertyValue
Headwordbalm of Gilead
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “balm of Gilead” in English

balm of Gileadsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

balm of Gilead is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for balm of Gilead in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is balm of Gilead, spelled B-A-L-M- -O-F- -G-I-L-E-A-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A rare perfume produced in Gilead and used medicinally, mentioned in the Bible. It is sometimes thought to have come from the plant Commiphora gileadensis, and sometimes from a terebinth tree in the genus Pistacia.
  2. 2
    A remedy believed to cure all disease; panacea.
  3. 3
    Any plant of species Cedronella canariensis, family Lamiaceae, native to Macaronesia.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how balm of Gilead appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The consummation of marriage involves the mightiest issues of life and is the most holy and sacred right recognized by man, and it is the Balm of Gilead for many ills. Masturbation or prostitution soon blight the brightest prospects a young man may have.
  2. "Never mind the details," he said. "The plain fact's enough, and its Balm of Gilead. There's work for both of us."

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "balm of Gilead"?
"balm of Gilead" is spelled B-A-L-M- -O-F- -G-I-L-E-A-D.
What does "balm of Gilead" mean?
As a noun, "balm of Gilead" means: A rare perfume produced in Gilead and used medicinally, mentioned in the Bible. It is sometimes thought to have come from the plant Commiphora gileadensis, and sometimes from a terebinth tree in th...
What language does "balm of Gilead" come from?
"balm of Gilead" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list