dung beetle
/ˈdʌŋ biːtəl/
"dung-beetle" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dung beetle” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of the beetle of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles), especially of the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae, noted for rolling dung into balls for use as food or as brooding chambers.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dung-beetle · dung beetle · English
dung beetle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dung beetle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdʌŋ biːtəl/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dung beetle” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dung beetle is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdʌŋ biːtəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dung beetle, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is dung beetle, spelled D-U-N-G- -B-E-E-T-L-E.
Definition
- 1Any of the beetle of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles), especially of the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae, noted for rolling dung into balls for use as food or as brooding chambers.
- 2Any of the true dung beetles of subfamily Scarabaeinae.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dung beetle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"They went in together. His was accepted and mine rejected. The title of his paper was 'The Reproductive System of the Dung-Beetle'." There was a general laugh.
What do dung beetles do? Adults and larvae of dung beetles feed only on dung and therefore are not a threat to the environment. This is in contrast to some other beetles found in dung pads, (not dung beetles) which feed on vegetable and other matter besides dung, while others are carnivorous. The activity of adult dung beetles can break up the dung pad, a…
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.