mycobacterium
"mycobacterium" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mycobacterium” is uncommon English (frequency #53,721 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,721
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of many rod-shaped, aerobic bacteria, of the genus Mycobacterium, that cause diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mycobacterium |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #53,721 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mycobacterium” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
mycobacterium is uncommon English at frequency #53,721 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of many rod-shaped, aerobic bacteria, of the genus Mycobacterium, that cause diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.".
No misspelling variants are generated for mycobacterium in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From myco- + bacterium. The correct English form is mycobacterium, spelled M-Y-C-O-B-A-C-T-E-R-I-U-M.
Definition
- 1Any of many rod-shaped, aerobic bacteria, of the genus Mycobacterium, that cause diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.
Etymology
From myco- + bacterium.
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 “mycobacterium”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-Y-C-O-B-A-C-T-E-R-I-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.