cicada
/sɪˈkeɪ.də/
"cicada" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cicada” is an uncommon English word, ranked #53,446 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #53,446
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cicada |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɪˈkeɪ.də/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #53,446 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cicada” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cicada is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪˈkeɪ.də/. Corpus data places it at rank #53,446 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cicada, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cicāda, ultimately onomatopoeic. Doublet of cicala. The correct English form is cicada, spelled C-I-C-A-D-A.
Definition
- 1Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.
- 2Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cicāda, ultimately onomatopoeic. Doublet of cicala.
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 “cicada”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-I-C-A-D-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɪˈkeɪ.də/ (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
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.