birthrate

noun

"birthrate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“birthrate” is uncommon English (frequency #68,045 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,045
frequency rank, English
31,241
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.

Key facts for birthrate
PropertyValue
Headwordbirthrate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#68,045
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “birthrate” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). birthrate lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

birthrate is uncommon English at frequency #68,045 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for birthrate, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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: From birth + rate. The correct English form is birthrate, spelled B-I-R-T-H-R-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.

Etymology

From birth + rate.

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 "birthrate"?
"birthrate" is spelled B-I-R-T-H-R-A-T-E.
What does "birthrate" mean?
As a noun, "birthrate" means: The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.
What is the origin of the word "birthrate"?
From birth + rate. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “birthrate”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-I-R-T-H-R-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list