marmot

/ˈmɑː.mət/

//ˈmɑː.mət// noun

"marmot" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“marmot” is uncommon English (frequency #59,531 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,531
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several large ground-dwelling rodents of the genera Marmota and Cynomys in the squirrel family.

Corpus desk

Index EN-marmot · marmot · English

marmot · rank #59,531 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,531
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH markdown

Nearest frequency peer: markdown (-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 “marmot”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “marmot” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for marmot
PropertyValue
Headwordmarmot
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɑː.mət/
Letters6
Frequency rank#59,531
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “marmot” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).marmotfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “markdown” (#59,530), “Matsui” (#59,532), “Mariko” (#59,529). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “marmot” is #59,531. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

marmot is uncommon English at frequency #59,531 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmɑː.mət/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of several large ground-dwelling rodents of the genera Marmota and Cynomys in the squirrel family.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for marmot, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French marmote, from Old French marmotaine, marmontaine, murmontain, from Old Franco-Provençal marmotan, from Vulgar Latin *mures montani, the plural form of Latin mus monti (“mountain rat”); akin to Engadin Romansh murmont, Old High German mure… The correct English form is marmot, spelled M-A-R-M-O-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of several large ground-dwelling rodents of the genera Marmota and Cynomys in the squirrel family.

Etymology

From Middle French marmote, from Old French marmotaine, marmontaine, murmontain, from Old Franco-Provençal marmotan, from Vulgar Latin *mures montani, the plural form of Latin mus monti (“mountain rat”); akin to Engadin Romansh murmont, Old High German muremunto (dialectal German Murmentel, standard Murmeltier).

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 "marmot"?
"marmot" is spelled M-A-R-M-O-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɑː.mət/.
What does "marmot" mean?
As a noun, "marmot" means: Any of several large ground-dwelling rodents of the genera Marmota and Cynomys in the squirrel family.
How do you pronounce "marmot"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "marmot" is /ˈmɑː.mət/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "marmot"?
From Middle French marmote, from Old French marmotaine, marmontaine, murmontain, from Old Franco-Provençal marmotan, from Vulgar Latin *mures montani, the plural form of Latin mus monti (“mountain rat”); akin to Engadin Romansh murmont, Old High G... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "marmot", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list