hyoid
/ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/
"hyoid" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hyoid” is uncommon English (frequency #70,761 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,761
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Shaped like a U, or like the letter upsilon (υ).
| 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) |
Where “hyoid” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hyoid is uncommon English at frequency #70,761 among 23,837 “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.
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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Using “hyoid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-Y-O-I-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.