nailbed

noun

"nailbed" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nailbed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The area underneath a nail in a human or other mammal.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nailbed · nailbed · English

nailbed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for nailbed
PropertyValue
Headwordnailbed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nailbed” in English

nailbedsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nailbed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The area underneath a nail in a human or other mammal.".

nailbed doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From nail + bed. The correct English form is nailbed, spelled N-A-I-L-B-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    The area underneath a nail in a human or other mammal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. On close inspection one of the nails will be found to be damaged, often with the nailbed exposed.

Etymology

From nail + bed.

Synonyms

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nailbed"?
"nailbed" is spelled N-A-I-L-B-E-D.
What does "nailbed" mean?
As a noun, "nailbed" means: The area underneath a nail in a human or other mammal.
What is the origin of the word "nailbed"?
From nail + bed. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list