hyoid
/ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/
"hyoid" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hyoid” is uncommon English (frequency #70,761 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,761
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Shaped like a U, or like the letter upsilon (υ).
Corpus desk
Index EN-hyoid · hyoid · English
hyoid · rank #70,761 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,761
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hydrazine
Nearest frequency peer: hydrazine (-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 “hyoid”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Hurtado
Hurtado
29,244 corpus weight
- husker
husker
29,243 corpus weight
- hyaline
hyaline
29,242 corpus weight
- hydrazine
hydrazine
29,241 corpus weight
- hyoid
hyoid
29,240 corpus weight
- hyperdrive
hyperdrive
29,239 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “hyoid” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hyoid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #70,761 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hyoid” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hyoid is uncommon English at frequency #70,761 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hyoid, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. 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: Borrowing from French hyoïde, from New Latin hȳoīdēs, from Ancient Greek ῡ̔οειδής (hūoeidḗs, “shaped like the letter "υ"”), from ὖ (û, “the Greek letter upsilon”) + -ο- (-o-) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-like, -oid”). The correct English form is hyoid, spelled H-Y-O-I-D.
Definition
- 1Shaped like a U, or like the letter upsilon (υ).
- 2Of or pertaining to the hyoid bone.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hyoid appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This stick has a hyoid shape.
The hyoid bone in her throat flutters as if discharging some subvocal rosary.
Etymology
Borrowing from French hyoïde, from New Latin hȳoīdēs, from Ancient Greek ῡ̔οειδής (hūoeidḗs, “shaped like the letter "υ"”), from ὖ (û, “the Greek letter upsilon”) + -ο- (-o-) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-like, -oid”).
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 "hyoid", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).