foramen
/fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/
"foramen" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“foramen” is uncommon English (frequency #57,389 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,389
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.
Corpus desk
Index EN-foramen · foramen · English
foramen · rank #57,389 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,389
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH forecaster
Nearest frequency peer: forecaster (+1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “foramen”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- folksy
folksy
42,614 corpus weight
- foramen
foramen
42,612 corpus weight
- forecaster
forecaster
42,611 corpus weight
- forfeiting
forfeiting
42,610 corpus weight
- formica
formica
42,609 corpus weight
- fosse
fosse
42,608 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “foramen” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | foramen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #57,389 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “foramen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
foramen is uncommon English at frequency #57,389 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.".
foramen has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture or opening produced by boring”), from forō (“to pierce or bore”) + -men (nominal suffix). The correct English form is foramen, spelled F-O-R-A-M-E-N.
Definition
- 1An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how foramen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The skull contains a number of foramina through which arteries, veins, nerves, and other structures enter and exit.
There is — as I have explained — a slight want of alignment in the cervical vertebrae which has, as I perceive it, the effect of lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture or opening produced by boring”), from forō (“to pierce or bore”) + -men (nominal suffix).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "foramen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).