biofilm
"biofilm" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“biofilm” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,646 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #54,646
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A thin film of mucus created by and containing a colony of bacteria and other microorganisms.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | biofilm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #54,646 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “biofilm” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for biofilm is 7 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #54,646 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A thin film of mucus created by and containing a colony of bacteria and other microorganisms.".
biofilm doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From bio- + film. First used in the early 1970s in the context of wastewater treatment. The correct English form is biofilm, spelled B-I-O-F-I-L-M.
Definition
- 1A thin film of mucus created by and containing a colony of bacteria and other microorganisms.
Etymology
From bio- + film. First used in the early 1970s in the context of wastewater treatment.
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 “biofilm”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-I-O-F-I-L-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.