frankincense
/ˈfɹæŋkənˌsɛns/
"frankincense" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“frankincense” is uncommon English (frequency #56,757 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,757
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.
Corpus desk
Index EN-frankincense · frankincense · English
frankincense · rank #56,757 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,757
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH frack
Nearest frequency peer: frack (-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 “frankincense”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- fourfold
fourfold
43,247 corpus weight
- FPV
FPV
43,246 corpus weight
- frack
frack
43,245 corpus weight
- frankincense
frankincense
43,244 corpus weight
- Freese
Freese
43,243 corpus weight
- FTM
FTM
43,241 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “frankincense” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | frankincense |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɹæŋkənˌsɛns/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #56,757 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “frankincense” in English
Rare enough to double-check
frankincense is uncommon English at frequency #56,757 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfɹæŋkənˌsɛns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.".
frankincense has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French franc encens (“noble incense”). The correct English form is frankincense, spelled F-R-A-N-K-I-N-C-E-N-S-E.
Definition
- 1A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how frankincense appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The glories of Mary held his soul captive : spikenard and myrrh and frankincense, symbolising the preciousness of God's gifts to her soul, rich garments, symbolising her royal lineage, her emblems, the lateflowering plant and lateblossoming tree, symbolising the agelong gradual growth of her cultus among men.
Frankincense, Frankenstein, Francophile, Philistine / Frankly, we are killing time
Etymology
From Old French franc encens (“noble incense”).
Synonyms
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 "frankincense", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).