encephalon
/ɛnˈsɛfələn/
"encephalon" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“encephalon” 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) - The area of central nervous system that includes all higher nervous centers, enclosed within the skull and continuous with the spinal cord; synonym of brain.
Corpus desk
Index EN-encephalon · encephalon · English
encephalon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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 | encephalon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɛnˈsɛfələn/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “encephalon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
encephalon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɛnˈsɛfələn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The area of central nervous system that includes all higher nervous centers, enclosed within the skull and continuous with the spinal cord; synonym of brain.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for encephalon, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐγκέφαλος (enképhalos, “within the head”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). The correct English form is encephalon, spelled E-N-C-E-P-H-A-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1The area of central nervous system that includes all higher nervous centers, enclosed within the skull and continuous with the spinal cord; synonym of brain.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how encephalon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Meronyms: prosencephalon, telencephalon, diencephalon; mesencephalon; rhombencephalon, metencephalon, myelencephalon
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐγκέφαλος (enképhalos, “within the head”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).
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.