balustrade
/ˌbæl.əˈstɹeɪd/
"balustrade" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“balustrade” is an uncommon English word, ranked #58,534 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #58,534
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | balustrade |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌbæl.əˈstɹeɪd/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #58,534 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “balustrade” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for balustrade is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌbæl.əˈstɹeɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #58,534 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.".
No misspelling variants are generated for balustrade in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French balustrade, from Italian balaustrata (“with balusters”), from balaustro (“baluster”), from balausta (“wild pomegranate flower”), via Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion), from Semitic, compare Classica… The correct English form is balustrade, spelled B-A-L-U-S-T-R-A-D-E.
Definition
- 1A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French balustrade, from Italian balaustrata (“with balusters”), from balaustro (“baluster”), from balausta (“wild pomegranate flower”), via Latin balaustium, from Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion), from Semitic, compare Classical Syriac ܒܠܳܨܳܐ (blāṣā, “pomegranate shoot”)). So named because of resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open pomegranate flower. Also see baluster.
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 “balustrade”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-L-U-S-T-R-A-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌbæl.əˈstɹeɪd/ (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.