charnel
[tʃɑːɹnəl]
"charnel" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“charnel” is uncommon English (frequency #89,220 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #89,220
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A chapel attached to a mortuary.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | charnel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [tʃɑːɹnəl] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #89,220 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “charnel” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
charnel is uncommon English at frequency #89,220 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [tʃɑːɹnəl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for charnel in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English charnel, from Old French charnel, carnel, from Late Latin carnāle (“graveyard”), from Latin carnālis, or possibly an alteration of Anglo-Norman charner, from Medieval Latin carnārium (“charnel”). Displaced Middle English fleshusse, from … The correct English form is charnel, spelled C-H-A-R-N-E-L.
Definition
- 1A chapel attached to a mortuary.
- 2A repository for dead bodies.
Etymology
From Middle English charnel, from Old French charnel, carnel, from Late Latin carnāle (“graveyard”), from Latin carnālis, or possibly an alteration of Anglo-Norman charner, from Medieval Latin carnārium (“charnel”). Displaced Middle English fleshusse, from Old English flǣsċhūs.
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 “charnel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-R-N-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [tʃɑːɹnəl] (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.