materia medica
"materia-medica" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“materia medica” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of pharmacology, particularly its development in early modern Europe.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | materia medica |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “materia medica” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
materia medica is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of pharmacology, particularly its development in early modern Europe.".
Zero misspellings are on record for materia medica in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin materia (“material”) + medica (“curative, medical”). The correct English form is materia medica, spelled M-A-T-E-R-I-A- -M-E-D-I-C-A.
Definition
- 1Synonym of pharmacology, particularly its development in early modern Europe.
Etymology
From Latin materia (“material”) + medica (“curative, medical”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “materia medica”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-T-E-R-I-A- -M-E-D-I-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.