cowpox

noun

"cowpox" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cowpox” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pustular, eruptive skin disease of cattle caused by a virus of species Orthopoxvirus cowpox, with lesions occurring principally on the udder and teats. Human infection may occur from touching cow...

Corpus desk

Index EN-cowpox · cowpox · English

cowpox · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for cowpox
PropertyValue
Headwordcowpox
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cowpox” in English

cowpoxranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cowpox is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pustular, eruptive skin disease of cattle caused by a virus of species Orthopoxvirus cowpox, with lesions occurring principally on the udder and teats. Human infection may occur from touching cow...".

Zero misspellings are on record for cowpox in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cow + pox. The correct English form is cowpox, spelled C-O-W-P-O-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    A pustular, eruptive skin disease of cattle caused by a virus of species Orthopoxvirus cowpox, with lesions occurring principally on the udder and teats. Human infection may occur from touching cows, and gives immunity to smallpox.

Etymology

From cow + pox.

Synonyms

kine-pox

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cowpox"?
"cowpox" is spelled C-O-W-P-O-X.
What does "cowpox" mean?
As a noun, "cowpox" means: A pustular, eruptive skin disease of cattle caused by a virus of species Orthopoxvirus cowpox, with lesions occurring principally on the udder and teats. Human infection may occur from touching cow...
What is the origin of the word "cowpox"?
From cow + pox. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list