hominid

/ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd/

//ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd// noun

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

"hominid" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hominid” is uncommon English (frequency #64,428 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,428
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any human, the only members of the family Hominidae as traditionally defined.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hominid · hominid · English

hominid · rank #64,428 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,428
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hutcheson

Nearest frequency peer: Hutcheson (+3 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 “hominid”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hominid
PropertyValue
Headwordhominid
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd/
Letters7
Frequency rank#64,428
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hominid” 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).hominidfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Hutcheson” (#64,431), “highwayman” (#64,424), “hymnal” (#64,432). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hominid” is #64,428. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hominid is uncommon English at frequency #64,428 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for hominid in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-ōm Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ Proto-Italic *hemō Latin hemō Latin homōlbor. Translingual Homo Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs)bor. Latin -ideslbo… The correct English form is hominid, spelled H-O-M-I-N-I-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any human, the only members of the family Hominidae as traditionally defined.
  2. 2
    Any primate of the taxonomic family Hominidae, which includes all the nonhuman great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans) as well as humans.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-ōm Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ Proto-Italic *hemō Latin hemō Latin homōlbor. Translingual Homo Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs)bor. Latin -ideslbor. ▲ Ancient Greek -ειδής (-eidḗs)influ. Translingual -idae Translingual Hominidaelbor. English hominid Learned borrowing from translingual Hominidae.

Synonyms

great apehominidhominiform

This word in other languages

homínido(Español)hominidé(Français)Hominide(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 "hominid"?
"hominid" is spelled H-O-M-I-N-I-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd/.
What does "hominid" mean?
As a noun, "hominid" means: Any human, the only members of the family Hominidae as traditionally defined.
How do you pronounce "hominid"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hominid" is /ˈhɑ.mə.nɪd/. 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 "hominid"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-ōm Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ Proto-Italic *hemō Latin hemō Latin homōlbor. Translingual Homo Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs)bor. Lati... 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 "hominid", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

infante#64,443irksome#64,449Jainism#64,456germane#64,398

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list