cantilena
/kæntɪˈleɪnə/
"cantilena" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cantilena” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cantilena · cantilena · English
cantilena · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cantilena |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kæntɪˈleɪnə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cantilena” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cantilena is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /kæntɪˈleɪnə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style.".
cantilena doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian or Latin cantilēna. The correct English form is cantilena, spelled C-A-N-T-I-L-E-N-A.
Definition
- 1A vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cantilena appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He played a lazy tune that sinuated from C sharp down to G natural and back again. Astonishing that he could flute so lazy a cantilena while chasing nymphs.
The sounds of insects, of which I am seldom conscious unless I have not heard them in some time, resumed, with a noise that reminded me of the tuning of the strings in the Blue Hall before the first cantilena began, a noise I sometimes used to listen to when I lay on my pallet near the open port of the apprentices' dormitory.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian or Latin cantilēna.
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.