clostridium

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"clostridium" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“clostridium” is uncommon English (frequency #51,615 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,615
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several mostly anaerobic gram-positive bacteria, of the genus Clostridium, that are present in the soil and in the intestines of humans and animals and are capable of forming spores

Corpus desk

Index EN-clostridium · clostridium · English

clostridium · rank #51,615 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,615
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH coaxing

Nearest frequency peer: coaxing (+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 “clostridium”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “clostridium” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for clostridium
PropertyValue
Headwordclostridium
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#51,615
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “clostridium” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).clostridiumfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “coaxing” (#51,616), “Clarksburg” (#51,613), “cockatoo” (#51,617). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “clostridium” is #51,615. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

clostridium is uncommon English at frequency #51,615 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of several mostly anaerobic gram-positive bacteria, of the genus Clostridium, that are present in the soil and in the intestines of humans and animals and are capable of forming spores".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for clostridium, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from translingual Clostridium. The correct English form is clostridium, spelled C-L-O-S-T-R-I-D-I-U-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of several mostly anaerobic gram-positive bacteria, of the genus Clostridium, that are present in the soil and in the intestines of humans and animals and are capable of forming spores

Etymology

Borrowed from translingual Clostridium.

This word in other languages

clostridie(Français)

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

How do you spell "clostridium"?
"clostridium" is spelled C-L-O-S-T-R-I-D-I-U-M.
What does "clostridium" mean?
As a noun, "clostridium" means: Any of several mostly anaerobic gram-positive bacteria, of the genus Clostridium, that are present in the soil and in the intestines of humans and animals and are capable of forming spores
What is the origin of the word "clostridium"?
Borrowed from translingual Clostridium. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "clostridium", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

disassembly#51,660Bhubaneswar#51,566earthenware#51,677Argentinean#51,542

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list