dulcimer
/ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/
"dulcimer" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dulcimer” is uncommon English (frequency #82,248 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,248
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the ...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dulcimer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #82,248 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dulcimer” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
dulcimer is uncommon English at frequency #82,248 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the ...".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dulcimer, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French doulcemelle, probably from Latin dulce melos (“sweet song”), from Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos, “melody, song”). The correct English form is dulcimer, spelled D-U-L-C-I-M-E-R.
Definition
- 1A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).
Etymology
From Old French doulcemelle, probably from Latin dulce melos (“sweet song”), from Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos, “melody, song”).
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 “dulcimer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-U-L-C-I-M-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdʌl.sɪ.mɚ/ (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.