botulism
/ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/
"botulism" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“botulism” is uncommon English (frequency #55,968 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,968
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | botulism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #55,968 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “botulism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
botulism is uncommon English at frequency #55,968 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.".
Zero misspellings are on record for botulism in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From German Botulismus, from Latin botulus (“sausage”), the first identified source of the disease, + -ism. The correct English form is botulism, spelled B-O-T-U-L-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.
Etymology
From German Botulismus, from Latin botulus (“sausage”), the first identified source of the disease, + -ism.
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 “botulism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-T-U-L-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/ (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.