ethology
/iːˈθɒl.ə.dʒi/
"ethology" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ethology” is uncommon English (frequency #87,261 among 18,836 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,261
- frequency rank, English
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The scientific study of animalian behavior, especially that of nonhuman animals.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ethology |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /iːˈθɒl.ə.dʒi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #87,261 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ethology” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ethology is uncommon English at frequency #87,261 among 18,836 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /iːˈθɒl.ə.dʒi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for ethology in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the Latin ēthologia (“the art of depicting or imitating character”), from the Ancient Greek ἠθολογία (ēthología, “painting of character, especially by mimic gestures”), from ἠθολόγος (ēthológos, “painting character by mimic gestures”), from ἦθος (êthos… The correct English form is ethology, spelled E-T-H-O-L-O-G-Y.
Definition
- 1The scientific study of animalian behavior, especially that of nonhuman animals.
- 2The study of the human ethos.
Etymology
From the Latin ēthologia (“the art of depicting or imitating character”), from the Ancient Greek ἠθολογία (ēthología, “painting of character, especially by mimic gestures”), from ἠθολόγος (ēthológos, “painting character by mimic gestures”), from ἦθος (êthos, “character, especially moral character”). Equivalent to etho- + -logy.
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 “ethology”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-T-H-O-L-O-G-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /iːˈθɒl.ə.dʒi/ (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.