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homeostasis

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "homeostasis", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "homeostasis" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "homeostasis" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

homeostasis is aEnglishnoun. It means: The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a state of dynamic constancy; such as the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain a stable temperature. Pronounced /ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/.

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Key facts for homeostasis
PropertyValue
Headwordhomeostasis
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/
Letters11
Frequency rank#39,849
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of homeostasis in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for homeostasis is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,849 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 16 documented wrong-spelling variants for homeostasis, with forms such as "hhomeostasis", "hmoeostasis", and "hoemostasis". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Coined from Ancient Greek ὅμοιος (hómoios, “similar, the same”) + -stasis by Walter Bradford Cannon, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis, “standing, state”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is homeostasis, spelled H-O-M-E-O-S-T-A-S-I-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a state of dynamic constancy; such as the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain a stable temperature.
  2. 2
    Such a dynamic equilibrium or balance.

Etymology

Coined from Ancient Greek ὅμοιος (hómoios, “similar, the same”) + -stasis by Walter Bradford Cannon, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis, “standing, state”).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: hhomeostasis,hmoeostasis,hoemostasis,homeosatsis,homeosstasis,homeostaiss,homeostasiss,homeostassi,homeostassis,homeostsais,homeosttasis,homeotsasis,homesotasis,hommeostasis,homoestasis,ohmeostasis

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for homeostasis

Misspelling Variants of "homeostasis"

hhomeostasis12hmoeostasis11hoemostasis11homeosatsis11homeosstasis12homeostaiss11homeostasiss12homeostassi11
Misspelling Variants of "homeostasis"

Frequency rank: #39,849 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "homeostasis"?
"homeostasis" is spelled H-O-M-E-O-S-T-A-S-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/.
What does "homeostasis" mean?
As a noun, "homeostasis" means: The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a state of dynamic constancy; such as the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain a stable temperature.
What are common misspellings of "homeostasis"?
Common misspellings include "hhomeostasis", "hmoeostasis", "hoemostasis", "homeosatsis", "homeosstasis". The correct spelling is "homeostasis".
How do you pronounce "homeostasis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "homeostasis" is /ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/. 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 "homeostasis"?
Coined from Ancient Greek ὅμοιος (hómoios, “similar, the same”) + -stasis by Walter Bradford Cannon, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis, “standing, state”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.