cartilaginous
/ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs/
"cartilaginous" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cartilaginous” is uncommon English (frequency #65,767 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,767
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cartilaginous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #65,767 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cartilaginous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
cartilaginous is uncommon English at frequency #65,767 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for cartilaginous in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cartilāginōsus (“full of cartilage, very gristly”), from cartilāgō (“cartilage, gristle”) + -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”); compare French cartilagineux. Equivalent to cartilage + -ous, with modifications made to its morphology. The correct English form is cartilaginous, spelled C-A-R-T-I-L-A-G-I-N-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.
- 2Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.
- 3Having a tough or fibrous texture, usually in reference to a mushroom stipe.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cartilāginōsus (“full of cartilage, very gristly”), from cartilāgō (“cartilage, gristle”) + -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”); compare French cartilagineux. Equivalent to cartilage + -ous, with modifications made to its morphology.
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 “cartilaginous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-R-T-I-L-A-G-I-N-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs/ (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.