chimeric
/kɪˈmɛɹɪk/
"chimeric" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chimeric” is uncommon English (frequency #74,829 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,829
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Like a chimera.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chimeric · chimeric · English
chimeric · rank #74,829 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,829
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH chiselled
Nearest frequency peer: chiselled (+1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “chimeric”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cherubim
cherubim
25,176 corpus weight
- chickenshit
chickenshit
25,174 corpus weight
- chimeric
chimeric
25,172 corpus weight
- chiselled
chiselled
25,171 corpus weight
- Chorlton
Chorlton
25,170 corpus weight
- chupacabra
chupacabra
25,169 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chimeric” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chimeric |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kɪˈmɛɹɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #74,829 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chimeric” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chimeric is uncommon English at frequency #74,829 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /kɪˈmɛɹɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for chimeric in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From chimera + -ic. The correct English form is chimeric, spelled C-H-I-M-E-R-I-C.
Definition
- 1Like a chimera.
- 2Imaginary, fanciful.
- 3Pertaining to a genetic chimera.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chimeric appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They crossed before the sun and vanished one by one and reappeared again and they were black in the sun and they rode out of that vanished sea like burn phantoms with the legs of the animals kicking up the spume that was not real and they were lost in the sun and lost in the lake and they shimmered and slurred together and separated again and they augment…
Application of the technology for producing chimeric mice has given considerable insight into the way intestinal crypts are organized.
Etymology
From chimera + -ic.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chimeric", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).