internecine
/ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/
"internecine" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“internecine” is uncommon English (frequency #68,324 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,324
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | internecine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #68,324 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “internecine” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
internecine is uncommon English at frequency #68,324 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for internecine in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin internecīnus (“deadly”), from internecium (“a massacre, bloodbath; an eradication”) + -īnus. In Latin, the sememe 'between' was here not expressed by the prefix, it instead either had a somewhat emphatic meaning or meant "down, under", c… The correct English form is internecine, spelled I-N-T-E-R-N-E-C-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare.
- 2Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin internecīnus (“deadly”), from internecium (“a massacre, bloodbath; an eradication”) + -īnus. In Latin, the sememe 'between' was here not expressed by the prefix, it instead either had a somewhat emphatic meaning or meant "down, under", comparable to its use in other Latin terms related to death: see interficiō and intereō. The English current sense is thus a reanalysis of the Latin through English inter-.
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 “internecine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-T-E-R-N-E-C-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/ (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.