discolor
/dɪsˈkʰʌlə(ɹ)/
"discolor" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“discolor” is uncommon English (frequency #76,718 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,718
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To change or lose color.
Corpus desk
Index EN-discolor · discolor · English
discolor · rank #76,718 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,718
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH Dini
Nearest frequency peer: Dini (-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 “discolor”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- DFO
DFO
23,291 corpus weight
- diatomaceous
diatomaceous
23,288 corpus weight
- Dickensian
Dickensian
23,287 corpus weight
- Dini
Dini
23,286 corpus weight
- discolor
discolor
23,283 corpus weight
- Dobrev
Dobrev
23,277 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “discolor” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | discolor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪsˈkʰʌlə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #76,718 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “discolor” in English
Rare enough to double-check
discolor is uncommon English at frequency #76,718 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /dɪsˈkʰʌlə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To change or lose color.".
discolor has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English discoloren, discoloren, from Old French descolorer, discolorer, equivalent to dis- + color. The correct English form is discolor, spelled D-I-S-C-O-L-O-R.
Definition
- 1To change or lose color.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how discolor appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Washing light laundry with dark may cause your clothes to discolor.
A bad enough bruise can discolor the skin.
Etymology
From Middle English discoloren, discoloren, from Old French descolorer, discolorer, equivalent to dis- + color.
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 "discolor", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).