matrilineal
/ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/
"matrilineal" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“matrilineal” is uncommon English (frequency #75,189 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,189
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tracing descent only through female ancestors.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | matrilineal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #75,189 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “matrilineal” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
matrilineal is uncommon English at frequency #75,189 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tracing descent only through female ancestors.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for matrilineal, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From matri- + lineal. Coined by British government anthropologist Northcote Whitridge Thomas in 1904 along with patrilineal. The correct English form is matrilineal, spelled M-A-T-R-I-L-I-N-E-A-L.
Definition
- 1Tracing descent only through female ancestors.
Etymology
From matri- + lineal. Coined by British government anthropologist Northcote Whitridge Thomas in 1904 along with patrilineal.
Antonyms
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 “matrilineal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-T-R-I-L-I-N-E-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌmeɪtɹɪˈlɪnɪəl/ (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.