dorsum
/ˈdɔː.səm/
"dorsum" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dorsum” is uncommon English (frequency #54,747 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,747
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The back or dorsal region on the surface of an animal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dorsum · dorsum · English
dorsum · rank #54,747 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #54,747
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH domaine
Nearest frequency peer: domaine (-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 “dorsum”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- dolla
dolla
45,256 corpus weight
- domaine
domaine
45,255 corpus weight
- dorsum
dorsum
45,254 corpus weight
- Dothraki
Dothraki
45,253 corpus weight
- Duffield
Duffield
45,252 corpus weight
- DWTS
DWTS
45,251 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “dorsum” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dorsum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɔː.səm/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #54,747 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dorsum” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dorsum is uncommon English at frequency #54,747 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdɔː.səm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
dorsum has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin dorsum (“the back”). The correct English form is dorsum, spelled D-O-R-S-U-M.
Definition
- 1The back or dorsal region on the surface of an animal.
- 2The back or dorsal region on the surface of an animal.
- 3A ridge on a hill, or on the surface of a planet or moon.
- 4Theta Capricorni, a star on the back of the Goat.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin dorsum (“the back”).
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 "dorsum", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).