dust devil
/dʌst ˈdɛvəl/
"dust-devil" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dust devil” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust (or dirt or sand) picked up from the ground.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dust-devil · dust devil · English
dust devil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | dust devil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dʌst ˈdɛvəl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dust devil” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dust devil is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /dʌst ˈdɛvəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust (or dirt or sand) picked up from the ground.".
Zero misspellings are on record for dust devil in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From dust + devil. The correct English form is dust devil, spelled D-U-S-T- -D-E-V-I-L.
Definition
- 1A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust (or dirt or sand) picked up from the ground.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dust devil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: whirlwind, whirl, sandspout, sand pillar, willy willy (Australia)
A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.
Etymology
From dust + devil.
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.