mafic
/ˈmafɪk/
"mafic" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mafic” is uncommon English (frequency #76,088 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,088
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mafic · mafic · English
mafic · rank #76,088 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,088
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH magisterium
Nearest frequency peer: magisterium (+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 “mafic”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Macht
Macht
23,917 corpus weight
- mackinaw
mackinaw
23,916 corpus weight
- MacMahon
MacMahon
23,915 corpus weight
- mafic
mafic
23,913 corpus weight
- magisterium
magisterium
23,912 corpus weight
- Makepeace
Makepeace
23,909 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “mafic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mafic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmafɪk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #76,088 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “mafic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
mafic is uncommon English at frequency #76,088 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈmafɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.".
mafic has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Blend of magnesium + ferric. The correct English form is mafic, spelled M-A-F-I-C.
Definition
- 1Describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mafic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Much of the southern half of the southeastern body is a mafic syenite, slightly more felsic than the shonkinite.
As a whole, rocks of this type are referred to as mafic, because of the importance of magnesium and iron in their composition.
Etymology
Blend of magnesium + ferric.
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
How do you spell "mafic"?
What does "mafic" mean?
How do you pronounce "mafic"?
What is the origin of the word "mafic"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mafic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).