linseed
/ˈlɪnsiːd/
"linseed" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“linseed” is uncommon English (frequency #59,511 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,511
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The seed of the flax plant, which yields linseed oil.
Corpus desk
Index EN-linseed · linseed · English
linseed · rank #59,511 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,511
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lithosphere
Nearest frequency peer: lithosphere (+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 “linseed”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- levitating
levitating
40,492 corpus weight
- linseed
linseed
40,490 corpus weight
- lithosphere
lithosphere
40,489 corpus weight
- loafer
loafer
40,488 corpus weight
- Lundberg
Lundberg
40,486 corpus weight
- mache
mache
40,483 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “linseed” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | linseed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɪnsiːd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #59,511 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “linseed” in English
Rare enough to double-check
linseed is uncommon English at frequency #59,511 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlɪnsiːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The seed of the flax plant, which yields linseed oil.".
linseed doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English linseed, lynseed, lynsede, from Old English līnsǣd (“seed of flax”), from līn (“flax”) (from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax”)) + sǣd (“seed”). By surface analysis, lin + seed. The correct English form is linseed, spelled L-I-N-S-E-E-D.
Definition
- 1The seed of the flax plant, which yields linseed oil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how linseed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The ancients regarded linseed as a source of medical benefits.
Etymology
From Middle English linseed, lynseed, lynsede, from Old English līnsǣd (“seed of flax”), from līn (“flax”) (from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax”)) + sǣd (“seed”). By surface analysis, lin + seed.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "linseed", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).