ferine
/ˈfɪəɹaɪn/
"ferine" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ferine” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pertaining to wild, menacing animals; feral.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ferine · ferine · English
ferine · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" 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 | ferine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfɪəɹaɪn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ferine” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ferine is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈfɪəɹaɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ferine doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin ferīnus, from fera (“wild animal”). The zoological sense was coined by William Whewell in 1840. The correct English form is ferine, spelled F-E-R-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Pertaining to wild, menacing animals; feral.
- 2Belonging to the proposed taxon of bats, carnivorans, and insectivorans.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ferine appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind) […]
Etymology
From Latin ferīnus, from fera (“wild animal”). The zoological sense was coined by William Whewell in 1840.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.