mortician

/mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/

//mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən// noun

"mortician" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mortician” is uncommon English (frequency #75,219 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,219
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mortician · mortician · English

mortician · rank #75,219 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,219
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Mosely

Nearest frequency peer: Mosely (+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 “mortician”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for mortician
PropertyValue
Headwordmortician
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/
Letters9
Frequency rank#75,219
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “mortician” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).morticianfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Mosely” (#75,220), “motorhead” (#75,221), “mouthfeel” (#75,222). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mortician” is #75,219. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mortician is uncommon English at frequency #75,219 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.".

No misspelling variants are generated for mortician in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin mort- (“death”) + -ician. The correct English form is mortician, spelled M-O-R-T-I-C-I-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how mortician appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “And I prefer mortician to funeral director. It sounds more professional and, well, it is more precise. I deal with more than mere funerals; I deal with death, passing on, the transition.”

Etymology

From Latin mort- (“death”) + -ician.

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 "mortician"?
"mortician" is spelled M-O-R-T-I-C-I-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is /mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/.
What does "mortician" mean?
As a noun, "mortician" means: An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.
How do you pronounce "mortician"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mortician" is /mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/. 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 "mortician"?
From Latin mort- (“death”) + -ician. 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 "mortician", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list