great northern diver
"great-northern-diver" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“great northern diver” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large member of the diver family, Gavia immer, commonly breeding in North America, where it is known as the as common loon.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | great northern diver |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “great northern diver” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for great northern diver is 20 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A large member of the diver family, Gavia immer, commonly breeding in North America, where it is known as the as common loon.".
Zero misspellings are on record for great northern diver in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the fact that the species is a diver, the largest or greatest of those regularly found off the British Isles, which has a very northerly range (no further south than the British Isles). The correct English form is great northern diver, spelled G-R-E-A-T- -N-O-R-T-H-E-R-N- -D-I-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1A large member of the diver family, Gavia immer, commonly breeding in North America, where it is known as the as common loon.
Etymology
From the fact that the species is a diver, the largest or greatest of those regularly found off the British Isles, which has a very northerly range (no further south than the British Isles).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "great northern diver"?
What does "great northern diver" mean?
What is the origin of the word "great northern diver"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “great northern diver”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-R-E-A-T- -N-O-R-T-H-E-R-N- -D-I-V-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.