Holbein
"holbein" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Holbein” is uncommon English (frequency #65,966 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,966
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from German.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Holbein |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #65,966 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Holbein” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Holbein is uncommon English at frequency #65,966 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname from German.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Holbein, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. 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 a German nickname for a bowlegged person, from Middle High German hol (“hollow”) + bein (“leg”) The correct English form is Holbein, spelled H-O-L-B-E-I-N.
Definition
- 1A surname from German.
Etymology
From a German nickname for a bowlegged person, from Middle High German hol (“hollow”) + bein (“leg”)
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 “Holbein”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-B-E-I-N - 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.