call of nature

noun

"call-of-nature" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The bodily urge to urinate or defecate.

Corpus desk

Index EN-call-of-nature · call of nature · English

call of nature · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" 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 call of nature
PropertyValue
Headwordcall of nature
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “call of nature” in English

call of naturesits 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

call of nature is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The bodily urge to urinate or defecate.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for call of nature in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is call of nature, spelled C-A-L-L- -O-F- -N-A-T-U-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The bodily urge to urinate or defecate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how call of nature appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It appears from the evidence adduced that after the canvass had continued five or six consecutive hours, Mr. FORBES and Mr. DECKER, two inspectors went out (though not in company) as they say in "obedience to a call of nature," and were gone five or ten minutes, leaving the box containing the votes for member of Assembly sealed in the care of one inspecto…
  2. I came here yesternight for a call of nature and to do what none can do for me[.]

Synonyms

defecation and Thesaurus:urination

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 "call of nature"?
"call of nature" is spelled C-A-L-L- -O-F- -N-A-T-U-R-E.
What does "call of nature" mean?
As a noun, "call of nature" means: The bodily urge to urinate or defecate.
What language does "call of nature" come from?
"call of nature" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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