interglacial

adj

"interglacial" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“interglacial” is uncommon English (frequency #83,375 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,375
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Occurring between glaciations (colloquially known as ice ages).

Corpus desk

Index EN-interglacial · interglacial · English

interglacial · rank #83,375 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,375
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH insigne

Nearest frequency peer: insigne (-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 “interglacial”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for interglacial
PropertyValue
Headwordinterglacial
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters12
Frequency rank#83,375
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “interglacial” 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).interglacialfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “insigne” (#83,374), “intrust” (#83,377), “invitee” (#83,378). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “interglacial” is #83,375. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

interglacial is uncommon English at frequency #83,375 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Occurring between glaciations (colloquially known as ice ages).".

No generated misspelling entries exist for interglacial in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From inter- + glacial. The correct English form is interglacial, spelled I-N-T-E-R-G-L-A-C-I-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Occurring between glaciations (colloquially known as ice ages).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how interglacial appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Palaeoenvironmental evidence from northwest Europe indicates that the oligocratic phase of the interglacial cycle (Fig. 3.1) had begun by ca. 5K years BP.

Etymology

From inter- + glacial.

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

How do you spell "interglacial"?
"interglacial" is spelled I-N-T-E-R-G-L-A-C-I-A-L.
What does "interglacial" mean?
As an adjective, "interglacial" means: Occurring between glaciations (colloquially known as ice ages).
What is the origin of the word "interglacial"?
From inter- + glacial. 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 "interglacial", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list