bestiary
/ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/
"bestiary" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bestiary” is uncommon English (frequency #68,869 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,869
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A medieval treatise of various real or imaginary animals.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bestiary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #68,869 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bestiary” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bestiary is uncommon English at frequency #68,869 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
bestiary doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin bēstiārium, from Latin bēstia (“beast, animal”). By surface analysis, beast + -ary. The correct English form is bestiary, spelled B-E-S-T-I-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A medieval treatise of various real or imaginary animals.
- 2A collection of various beasts, depicted in art, literature, or the like.
- 3A list or guidebook of the monsters to be found in a roleplaying game.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin bēstiārium, from Latin bēstia (“beast, animal”). By surface analysis, beast + -ary.
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 "bestiary"?
What does "bestiary" mean?
How do you pronounce "bestiary"?
What is the origin of the word "bestiary"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “bestiary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-S-T-I-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.