distemper
/dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/
"distemper" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“distemper” is uncommon English (frequency #62,101 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,101
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
Corpus desk
Index EN-distemper · distemper · English
distemper · rank #62,101 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #62,101
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH distillate
Nearest frequency peer: distillate (+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 “distemper”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- deviled
deviled
37,905 corpus weight
- diamante
diamante
37,904 corpus weight
- distemper
distemper
37,900 corpus weight
- distillate
distillate
37,899 corpus weight
- domesticity
domesticity
37,898 corpus weight
- Dravid
Dravid
37,894 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “distemper” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | distemper |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #62,101 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “distemper” in English
Rare enough to double-check
distemper is uncommon English at frequency #62,101 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for distemper, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare. The correct English form is distemper, spelled D-I-S-T-E-M-P-E-R.
Definition
- 1A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
- 2A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.
- 3A glue-based paint.
- 4A painting produced with this kind of paint.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how distemper appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
O perplex'd diſcompoſition, O ridling diſtemper, O miſerable condition of Man.
[M]y spirits began to sink under the Burden of a strong Distemper, and Nature was exhausted with the Violence of the Fever […]
Etymology
From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare.
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 "distemper", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).