buckthorn
/ˈbʌk.θɔːn/
"buckthorn" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“buckthorn” is uncommon English (frequency #86,093 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,093
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially
Corpus desk
Index EN-buckthorn · buckthorn · English
buckthorn · rank #86,093 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,093
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bubbler
Nearest frequency peer: bubbler (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “buckthorn”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- brung
brung
13,912 corpus weight
- BTO
BTO
13,910 corpus weight
- bubbler
bubbler
13,909 corpus weight
- buckthorn
buckthorn
13,908 corpus weight
- buhl
buhl
13,907 corpus weight
- burpee
burpee
13,905 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “buckthorn” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | buckthorn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbʌk.θɔːn/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #86,093 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “buckthorn” in English
Rare enough to double-check
buckthorn is uncommon English at frequency #86,093 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbʌk.θɔːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for buckthorn in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Latin cervī spīna (“deer's thorny shrub”), cervi (“deer's”) being the genitive singular of cervus (“deer”), from Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) + *-wós, spīna (“thorny shrub”) from Proto-Italic *spe… The correct English form is buckthorn, spelled B-U-C-K-T-H-O-R-N.
Definition
- 1Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially
- 2Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially
- 3Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially
- 4Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially
Etymology
Calque of Latin cervī spīna (“deer's thorny shrub”), cervi (“deer's”) being the genitive singular of cervus (“deer”), from Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) + *-wós, spīna (“thorny shrub”) from Proto-Italic *speinā, from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“sharp point”). By surface analysis, buck + thorn.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "buckthorn", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).