macadam
/məˈkædəm/
"macadam" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“macadam” is uncommon English (frequency #67,610 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,610
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
Corpus desk
Index EN-macadam · macadam · English
macadam · rank #67,610 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,610
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Mafioso
Nearest frequency peer: Mafioso (+3 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 “macadam”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- lunching
lunching
32,396 corpus weight
- Lusitania
Lusitania
32,395 corpus weight
- macadam
macadam
32,391 corpus weight
- Mafioso
Mafioso
32,388 corpus weight
- magnetometer
magnetometer
32,387 corpus weight
- Magnitsky
Magnitsky
32,386 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “macadam” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “macadam” in English
Rare enough to double-check
macadam is uncommon English at frequency #67,610 among 4,057 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how macadam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This narrow-gauge line had suffered the same fate as that between Schull and Skibbereen, with the track taken up except where it runs through one of the town streets and is embedded in the macadam.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "macadam", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).