hypotenuse
/haɪˈpɒtənjuːz/
"hypotenuse" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hypotenuse” is uncommon English (frequency #78,700 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,700
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hypotenuse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /haɪˈpɒtənjuːz/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #78,700 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hypotenuse” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hypotenuse is uncommon English at frequency #78,700 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /haɪˈpɒtənjuːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.".
No misspelling variants are generated for hypotenuse in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin hypotenusa, from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνουσα πλευρά (hupoteínousa pleurá, “side subtending [the right angle]”), from ὑποτείνουσα (hupoteínousa, “stretching, extending, subtending”), active participle of ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “subtend, stretch under”). The correct English form is hypotenuse, spelled H-Y-P-O-T-E-N-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.
Etymology
From Latin hypotenusa, from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνουσα πλευρά (hupoteínousa pleurá, “side subtending [the right angle]”), from ὑποτείνουσα (hupoteínousa, “stretching, extending, subtending”), active participle of ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “subtend, stretch under”).
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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Using “hypotenuse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-Y-P-O-T-E-N-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /haɪˈpɒtənjuːz/ (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.