necromancy
/ˈnɛkɹəˌmænsi/
"necromancy" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“necromancy” is uncommon English (frequency #74,344 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,344
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Divination involving the dead or death.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | necromancy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɛkɹəˌmænsi/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #74,344 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “necromancy” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
necromancy is uncommon English at frequency #74,344 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈnɛkɹəˌmænsi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
necromancy has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Circa 1300, from Middle English nigromancye, from Old French nigromancie, from Medieval Latin nigromantia, from Latin necromantia, from Ancient Greek νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía), νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”). Medieval Latin spel… The correct English form is necromancy, spelled N-E-C-R-O-M-A-N-C-Y.
Definition
- 1Divination involving the dead or death.
- 2Loosely, any sorcery or witchcraft, especially involving death or the dead, particularly sorcery involving raising or reanimating the dead.
- 3Synonym of necroposting.
Etymology
Circa 1300, from Middle English nigromancye, from Old French nigromancie, from Medieval Latin nigromantia, from Latin necromantia, from Ancient Greek νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía), νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”). Medieval Latin spelling, incorporating niger (“black”), influenced by the notion of black art. Modern spelling adopted in mid-1500s. By surface analysis, necro- + -mancy.
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 “necromancy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-C-R-O-M-A-N-C-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɛkɹəˌmænsi/ (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.