circumnavigation
"circumnavigation" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“circumnavigation” is uncommon English (frequency #75,728 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,728
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of circumnavigating, or sailing round.
Corpus desk
Index EN-circumnavigation · circumnavigation · English
circumnavigation · rank #75,728 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #75,728
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH churlish
Nearest frequency peer: churlish (-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 “circumnavigation”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- chitosan
chitosan
24,277 corpus weight
- Chuka
Chuka
24,275 corpus weight
- churlish
churlish
24,274 corpus weight
- circumnavig…
circumnavigation
24,273 corpus weight
- clambering
clambering
24,272 corpus weight
- clampdown
clampdown
24,271 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “circumnavigation” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | circumnavigation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 16 |
| Frequency rank | #75,728 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “circumnavigation” in English
Rare enough to double-check
circumnavigation is uncommon English at frequency #75,728 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The act of circumnavigating, or sailing round.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for circumnavigation in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From circum- + navigation. The correct English form is circumnavigation, spelled C-I-R-C-U-M-N-A-V-I-G-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of circumnavigating, or sailing round.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how circumnavigation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Under our new World may alſo be compriſed thoſe vaſt Southern Coaſts and Streights of Magelan, firſt lighted on by Ferdinandus Magelanus in the year 1520, in his Circumnavigation of the Univerſe ; which forty five years after Sir Francis Drake, and next Sir Thomas Bendiſh, Engliſhmen, made a furhter inſpection into ; and in the Year 1600 Oliver van Noord…
Etymology
From circum- + navigation.
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "circumnavigation", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 16 letters (nearest by frequency rank).