Dravidian
/dɹəˈvɪdɪən/
"dravidian" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Dravidian” is uncommon English (frequency #62,852 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,852
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dravidian · Dravidian · English
Dravidian · rank #62,852 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #62,852
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH downloader
Nearest frequency peer: downloader (-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 “Dravidian”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- doling
doling
37,153 corpus weight
- doty
doty
37,151 corpus weight
- downloader
downloader
37,150 corpus weight
- Dravidian
Dravidian
37,149 corpus weight
- driller
driller
37,147 corpus weight
- Drouin
Drouin
37,146 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Dravidian” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Dravidian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /dɹəˈvɪdɪən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #62,852 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Dravidian” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Dravidian is uncommon English at frequency #62,852 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /dɹəˈvɪdɪən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Dravidian, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Sanskrit द्राविड (drāviḍa) + -ian. *tamiḻ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, 'hypercorrect' (or perhaps analogical) -r-, into dr(a/ā)viḍa. The correct English form is Dravidian, spelled D-R-A-V-I-D-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- 2Any of the languages of these aboriginal peoples; Dravidic.
Etymology
From Sanskrit द्राविड (drāviḍa) + -ian. *tamiḻ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, 'hypercorrect' (or perhaps analogical) -r-, into dr(a/ā)viḍa.
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 "Dravidian", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).