dromedary
/ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi/
"dromedary" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dromedary” is uncommon English (frequency #88,293 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,293
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dromedary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #88,293 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dromedary” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
dromedary is uncommon English at frequency #88,293 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for dromedary in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. 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 dromedari, dromedarie (“dromedary; any camel”) [and other forms], from Old French dromedaire, from Late Latin dromedārius (“kind of camel”), from Latin *dromadārius, from dromas, dromadis (“dromedary”) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns deno… The correct English form is dromedary, spelled D-R-O-M-E-D-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1The single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius).
- 2Any swift riding camel.
- 3Referring to a biphasic clinical course of poliomyelitis, typically occurring in children, characterized by a minor illness, followed by an asymptomatic period of several days before the onset of a major illness involving the central nervous system.
Etymology
From Middle English dromedari, dromedarie (“dromedary; any camel”) [and other forms], from Old French dromedaire, from Late Latin dromedārius (“kind of camel”), from Latin *dromadārius, from dromas, dromadis (“dromedary”) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting agents of use). Dromas and dromadis are derived from Ancient Greek δρομᾰ́ς (dromắs, “running; dromedary”), an ellipsis of δρομὰς κάμηλος (dromàs kámēlos, “running camel”), from δρόμος (drómos, “race, running; race course, track”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to run”).
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 “dromedary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-R-O-M-E-D-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.