macadam
/məˈkædəm/
"macadam" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“macadam” is uncommon English (frequency #67,610 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,610
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | macadam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈkædəm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #67,610 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “macadam” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
macadam is uncommon English at frequency #67,610 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /məˈkædəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
macadam has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named after Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), who invented the process of macadamization. Used for describing road surfaces originally constructed using the McAdam method, but now sometimes used for any road or street. The correct English form is macadam, spelled M-A-C-A-D-A-M.
Definition
- 1The surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
- 2Any road or street.
Etymology
Named after Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), who invented the process of macadamization. Used for describing road surfaces originally constructed using the McAdam method, but now sometimes used for any road or street.
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 “macadam”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-C-A-D-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məˈkædəm/ (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.