dismember
/ˌdɪsˈmɛmbə(ɹ)/
"dismember" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dismember” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,770 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #60,770
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To remove the limbs of.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dismember |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌdɪsˈmɛmbə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #60,770 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dismember” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dismember is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdɪsˈmɛmbə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #60,770 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
dismember has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English, from Old French desmembrer, from des- (“de-”) + membre (“limb”) + -er (“verbal suffix”). The correct English form is dismember, spelled D-I-S-M-E-M-B-E-R.
Definition
- 1To remove the limbs of.
- 2To cut or otherwise divide something into pieces.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French desmembrer, from des- (“de-”) + membre (“limb”) + -er (“verbal suffix”).
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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Using “dismember”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-S-M-E-M-B-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdɪsˈmɛmbə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.