nasopharyngeal

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"nasopharyngeal" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nasopharyngeal” is uncommon English (frequency #98,484 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#98,484
frequency rank, English
24,391
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to the nose and the pharynx

Key facts for nasopharyngeal
PropertyValue
Headwordnasopharyngeal
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters14
Frequency rank#98,484
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “nasopharyngeal” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). nasopharyngeal lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nasopharyngeal is uncommon English at frequency #98,484 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for nasopharyngeal in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From naso- + pharyngeal. The correct English form is nasopharyngeal, spelled N-A-S-O-P-H-A-R-Y-N-G-E-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to the nose and the pharynx
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to the nasopharynx

Etymology

From naso- + pharyngeal.

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 "nasopharyngeal"?
"nasopharyngeal" is spelled N-A-S-O-P-H-A-R-Y-N-G-E-A-L.
What does "nasopharyngeal" mean?
As an adjective, "nasopharyngeal" means: Of or pertaining to the nose and the pharynx
What is the origin of the word "nasopharyngeal"?
From naso- + pharyngeal. 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.

Using “nasopharyngeal”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is N-A-S-O-P-H-A-R-Y-N-G-E-A-L - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list