herbivorous
/(h)ɜːɹˈbɪvəɹəs/
"herbivorous" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“herbivorous” is uncommon English (frequency #65,956 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,956
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Feeding chiefly on plants.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | herbivorous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /(h)ɜːɹˈbɪvəɹəs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #65,956 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “herbivorous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
herbivorous is uncommon English at frequency #65,956 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /(h)ɜːɹˈbɪvəɹəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Feeding chiefly on plants.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for herbivorous, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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: Adapted borrowing of New Latin herbivorus + -ous, from Latin herba (“grass”) and -vorus, from vorō (“I devour”). The correct English form is herbivorous, spelled H-E-R-B-I-V-O-R-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Feeding chiefly on plants.
Etymology
Adapted borrowing of New Latin herbivorus + -ous, from Latin herba (“grass”) and -vorus, from vorō (“I devour”).
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 “herbivorous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-R-B-I-V-O-R-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /(h)ɜːɹˈbɪvəɹəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.