geriatrics
"geriatrics" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“geriatrics” is uncommon English (frequency #54,800 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,800
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | geriatrics |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #54,800 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “geriatrics” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
geriatrics is uncommon English at frequency #54,800 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the...".
geriatrics doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek γῆρας (gêras, “old age”) (see γέρων (gérōn)) + ἰατρός (iatrós, “physician”); coined in English in 1909 by Ignatz L. Nascher in the New York Medical Journal on the model of pediatrics; correct formation would be gerontiatrics. Compare gero… The correct English form is geriatrics, spelled G-E-R-I-A-T-R-I-C-S.
Definition
- 1The branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the study of the aging process itself.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek γῆρας (gêras, “old age”) (see γέρων (gérōn)) + ἰατρός (iatrós, “physician”); coined in English in 1909 by Ignatz L. Nascher in the New York Medical Journal on the model of pediatrics; correct formation would be gerontiatrics. Compare gerontology.
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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Using “geriatrics”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-E-R-I-A-T-R-I-C-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.