nettle
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "nettle", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "nettle" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "nettle" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
nettle is aEnglishnoun. It means: Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash. Pronounced [ˈnɛɾʊl]. Often confused with Neale and needle.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nettle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈnɛɾʊl] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #41,276 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nettle is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈnɛɾʊl]. Corpus data places it at rank #41,276 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 24 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for nettle, with forms such as "enttle", "netle", and "netlte". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "Neale", "needle", "neatly", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English netle, netel, from Old English netle, netele, netel, from Proto-West Germanic *natilā (cognate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern Dutch netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ (“nettle”)), a diminutive of Proto-Germani… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is nettle, spelled N-E-T-T-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 2Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 3Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 4Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 5Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 6Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 7Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 8Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 9Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 10Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 11Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
- 12Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
- 13Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
- 14Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
- 15Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
- 16Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
- 17Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 18Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 19Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 20Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 21Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 22Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 23Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
- 24Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle.
Etymology
From Middle English netle, netel, from Old English netle, netele, netel, from Proto-West Germanic *natilā (cognate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern Dutch netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ (“nettle”)), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *natǭ (of unknown origin, perhaps from the same source as net).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: enttle,netle,netlte,nettel,nettlle,nnettle,ntetle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for nettle
Misspelling Variants of "nettle"
Frequency rank: #41,276 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "nettle"?
What does "nettle" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "nettle"?
How do you pronounce "nettle"?
What is the origin of the word "nettle"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index: