legionella
"legionella" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“legionella” is uncommon English (frequency #70,029 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,029
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Bacteria of the genus Legionella.
Corpus desk
Index EN-legionella · legionella · English
legionella · rank #70,029 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,029
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH legibility
Nearest frequency peer: legibility (-2 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 “legionella”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- leaderless
leaderless
29,976 corpus weight
- legato
legato
29,975 corpus weight
- legibility
legibility
29,974 corpus weight
- legionella
legionella
29,972 corpus weight
- Letchworth
Letchworth
29,968 corpus weight
- lez
lez
29,966 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “legionella” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | legionella |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #70,029 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “legionella” in English
Rare enough to double-check
legionella is uncommon English at frequency #70,029 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Bacteria of the genus Legionella.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for legionella in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From legion + translingual -ella, from Latin legio. Constructed from "American Legion", after an outbreak of a then-unknown "mystery disease" (Legionnaires' disease) at a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia in 1976. The correct English form is legionella, spelled L-E-G-I-O-N-E-L-L-A.
Definition
- 1Bacteria of the genus Legionella.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how legionella appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Thameslink Train Services Director Rob Mullen responded: "A very low level of legionella was found during testing in a small number of our Class 700 train toilets. While it is extremely unlikely this would cause any harm, the toilets were immediately locked out of use. The trains were taken out of service and these toilets have now been drained, bleached…
Etymology
From legion + translingual -ella, from Latin legio. Constructed from "American Legion", after an outbreak of a then-unknown "mystery disease" (Legionnaires' disease) at a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia in 1976.
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 "legionella"?
What does "legionella" mean?
What is the origin of the word "legionella"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "legionella", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).