hygroscopic
/ha͜ɪ.ɡɹəˈscɔp.ɪk/
"hygroscopic" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hygroscopic” is uncommon English (frequency #87,390 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,390
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Readily taking up and retaining water, especially from the atmosphere.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hygroscopic · hygroscopic · English
hygroscopic · rank #87,390 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,390
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hydrofluoric
Nearest frequency peer: hydrofluoric (-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 “hygroscopic”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Housley
Housley
12,620 corpus weight
- hox
hox
12,617 corpus weight
- hydrofluoric
hydrofluoric
12,612 corpus weight
- hygroscopic
hygroscopic
12,611 corpus weight
- hypoplasia
hypoplasia
12,610 corpus weight
- improver
improver
12,606 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “hygroscopic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hygroscopic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ha͜ɪ.ɡɹəˈscɔp.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #87,390 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hygroscopic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hygroscopic is uncommon English at frequency #87,390 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ha͜ɪ.ɡɹəˈscɔp.ɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Readily taking up and retaining water, especially from the atmosphere.".
hygroscopic doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French hygroscopique. The correct English form is hygroscopic, spelled H-Y-G-R-O-S-C-O-P-I-C.
Definition
- 1Readily taking up and retaining water, especially from the atmosphere.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hygroscopic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The tissues of Ralfsia are dense and the cells are extremely hygroscopic. The plants may become almost crisp dry in the sun, yet remain alive and continue growth with the first splash of the incoming tide.
All fertilizers tested are drillable at relative humidities below 50 per cent, but no fertilizer remains drillable when exposed to a humidity above its hygroscopic point.
Etymology
From French hygroscopique.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hygroscopic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).