bulimia nervosa

noun

"bulimia-nervosa" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bulimia nervosa” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bulimia-nervosa · bulimia nervosa · English

bulimia nervosa · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for bulimia nervosa
PropertyValue
Headwordbulimia nervosa
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bulimia nervosa” in English

bulimia nervosasits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bulimia nervosa is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.".

Zero misspellings are on record for bulimia nervosa in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. 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 Latin bulimia, from Ancient Greek βουλῑμία (boulīmía, “ravenous hunger”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + λῑμός (līmós, “hunger, famine”) and Latin nervosa. The correct English form is bulimia nervosa, spelled B-U-L-I-M-I-A- -N-E-R-V-O-S-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    An eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.

Etymology

From Latin bulimia, from Ancient Greek βουλῑμία (boulīmía, “ravenous hunger”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + λῑμός (līmós, “hunger, famine”) and Latin nervosa.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bulimia nervosa"?
"bulimia nervosa" is spelled B-U-L-I-M-I-A- -N-E-R-V-O-S-A.
What does "bulimia nervosa" mean?
As a noun, "bulimia nervosa" means: An eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.
What is the origin of the word "bulimia nervosa"?
From Latin bulimia, from Ancient Greek βουλῑμία (boulīmía, “ravenous hunger”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + λῑμός (līmós, “hunger, famine”) and Latin nervosa. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list