civet
/ˈsɪ.vɪt/
"civet" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“civet” is uncommon English (frequency #82,179 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,179
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of the small carnivorous catlike mammals encompassing certain species from the families Viverridae, Eupleridae, and Nandiniidae, native to tropical Africa and Asia.
Corpus desk
Index EN-civet · civet · English
civet · rank #82,179 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #82,179
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH clemence
Nearest frequency peer: clemence (+3 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 “civet”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- choirmaster
choirmaster
17,827 corpus weight
- chok
chok
17,826 corpus weight
- civet
civet
17,822 corpus weight
- clemence
clemence
17,819 corpus weight
- closeout
closeout
17,817 corpus weight
- Coahuila
Coahuila
17,814 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “civet” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | civet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪ.vɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #82,179 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “civet” in English
Rare enough to double-check
civet is uncommon English at frequency #82,179 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɪ.vɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for civet, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French civette, from Italian zibetto, from Medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic زَبَاد (zabād). The correct English form is civet, spelled C-I-V-E-T.
Definition
- 1Any of the small carnivorous catlike mammals encompassing certain species from the families Viverridae, Eupleridae, and Nandiniidae, native to tropical Africa and Asia.
- 2The musky perfume produced by the animal; civetone.
- 3A spotted skunk.
- 4A ringtail (Bassariscus astutus).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how civet appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
LEONATO. Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard. DON PEDRO. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet: can you smell him out by that? CLAUDIO. That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love.
Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valian…
Etymology
From French civette, from Italian zibetto, from Medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic زَبَاد (zabād).
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 "civet", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).