hippodrome

/ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm/

//ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"hippodrome" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hippodrome” is uncommon English (frequency #61,534 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,534
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A horse racing course.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hippodrome · hippodrome · English

hippodrome · rank #61,534 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,534
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hindustani

Nearest frequency peer: Hindustani (-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 “hippodrome”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “hippodrome” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hippodrome
PropertyValue
Headwordhippodrome
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm/
Letters10
Frequency rank#61,534
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hippodrome” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).hippodromefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Hindustani” (#61,533), “HMU” (#61,535), “Hoang” (#61,536). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hippodrome” is #61,534. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hippodrome is uncommon English at frequency #61,534 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

hippodrome doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *HéHḱus Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos Proto-Hellenic *íkkʷos Ancient Greek ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos) Proto-Indo-European *drem- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek δρόμος (drómos) Anci… The correct English form is hippodrome, spelled H-I-P-P-O-D-R-O-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A horse racing course.
  2. 2
    A fraudulent sporting contest with a predetermined winner.
  3. 3
    A circus with equestrian performances.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *HéHḱus Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos Proto-Hellenic *íkkʷos Ancient Greek ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos) Proto-Indo-European *drem- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek δρόμος (drómos) Ancient Greek ῐ̔ππόδρομος (hĭppódromos)bor. Latin hippodromoslbor. French hippodromebor. English hippodrome Borrowed from French hippodrome, a learned borrowing from Latin hippodromos, borrowed from Ancient Greek ῐ̔ππόδρομος (hĭppódromos), from ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos, “horse”) + δρόμος (drómos, “street”). By surface analysis, hippo- + -drome.

This word in other languages

hipódromo(Español)hippodrome(Français)Hippodrom(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "hippodrome"?
"hippodrome" is spelled H-I-P-P-O-D-R-O-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm/.
What does "hippodrome" mean?
As a noun, "hippodrome" means: A horse racing course.
How do you pronounce "hippodrome"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hippodrome" is /ˈhɪpəˌdɹəʊm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hippodrome"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *HéHḱus Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos Proto-Hellenic *íkkʷos Ancient Greek ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos) Proto-Indo-European *drem- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek δρόμος (dr... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hippodrome", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Hindustani#61,533Huddleston#61,541hauntingly#61,523infliction#61,557

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list