fly agaric

noun

"fly-agaric" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“fly agaric” 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 poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, with a large crimson cap, fading to yellow, scattered with white flecks.

Corpus desk

Index EN-fly-agaric · fly agaric · English

fly agaric · 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 "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.

Key facts for fly agaric
PropertyValue
Headwordfly agaric
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “fly agaric” in English

fly agaricranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

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

Rare enough to double-check

fly agaric is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, with a large crimson cap, fading to yellow, scattered with white flecks.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for fly agaric, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: The name is given because it was used as insecticide in England, similarly to many other European countries, compare e.g. Swedish flugsvamp and Russian мухомо́р (muxomór). The correct English form is fly agaric, spelled F-L-Y- -A-G-A-R-I-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    A poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, with a large crimson cap, fading to yellow, scattered with white flecks.

Etymology

The name is given because it was used as insecticide in England, similarly to many other European countries, compare e.g. Swedish flugsvamp and Russian мухомо́р (muxomór).

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 "fly agaric"?
"fly agaric" is spelled F-L-Y- -A-G-A-R-I-C.
What does "fly agaric" mean?
As a noun, "fly agaric" means: A poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom, Amanita muscaria, with a large crimson cap, fading to yellow, scattered with white flecks.
What is the origin of the word "fly agaric"?
The name is given because it was used as insecticide in England, similarly to many other European countries, compare e.g. Swedish flugsvamp and Russian мухомо́р (muxomór). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list