family tree

noun

"family-tree" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“family tree” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A diagrammatic representation of a pedigree, illustrating the connections between a person's ancestors, offspring and other relatives.

Key facts for family tree
PropertyValue
Headwordfamily tree
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “family tree” sits in English frequency

family tree falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for family tree is 11 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for family tree in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is family tree, spelled F-A-M-I-L-Y- -T-R-E-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A diagrammatic representation of a pedigree, illustrating the connections between a person's ancestors, offspring and other relatives.
  2. 2
    The totality of someone's ancestors and offspring.
  3. 3
    A model or diagram showing the relationships and evolution of specified languages over time.
  4. 4
    A grafting technique involving the joining of different varieties of plants onto a single tree or plant.
  5. 5
    A data structure that organizes resources or machines in a distributed system, consisting of nodes connected by edges, in which each node may also contain a subnode.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "family tree"?
"family tree" is spelled F-A-M-I-L-Y- -T-R-E-E.
What does "family tree" mean?
As a noun, "family tree" means: A diagrammatic representation of a pedigree, illustrating the connections between a person's ancestors, offspring and other relatives.
What language does "family tree" come from?
"family tree" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “family tree”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is F-A-M-I-L-Y- -T-R-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list