nineveh
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Detailed reference entry for the English word "nineveh", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "nineveh" 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 "nineveh" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“Nineveh” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,518 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #38,518
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
Dominant Wiktionary sense: The capital of ancient Assyria, now Mosul, Iraq.
Compare similar words
See how Nineveh compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Nineveh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɪnɪvə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #38,518 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Nineveh” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Nineveh is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnɪnɪvə/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,518 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Nineveh, with forms such as "inneveh", "nienveh", and "nineevh". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old English Niniuea (under influence from Biblical Hebrew נִינְוֵה (nīnəwē)), from Latin Nīnevē, from Ancient Greek Νινευή (Nineuḗ), ultimately from Akkadian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏 (/Ninua/) or Old Babylonian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 (/Ninuwā/) of uncertain origin, but is cl… 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 Nineveh, spelled N-I-N-E-V-E-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The capital of ancient Assyria, now Mosul, Iraq.
- 2A governorate in Northern Iraq.
Etymology
From Old English Niniuea (under influence from Biblical Hebrew נִינְוֵה (nīnəwē)), from Latin Nīnevē, from Ancient Greek Νινευή (Nineuḗ), ultimately from Akkadian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏 (/Ninua/) or Old Babylonian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 (/Ninuwā/) of uncertain origin, but is clearly a variation of 𒀏 (/ninâ/, “fish”). The cuneiform seems to denote "House of Fish", although whether this referred to literal fish, an aspect of Ishtar, a separate Hurrian goddess, or something else entirely is unclear. The traditional folk etymology in classical antiquity derived it from an eponymous founder Ninus (Greek: Νίνος (Nínos)).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: inneveh,nienveh,nineevh,ninevehh,ninevhe,ninevveh,ninneveh,ninveeh,nnieveh,nnineveh
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Nineveh - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "Nineveh"
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.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “Nineveh, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/nineveh
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Nineveh”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-N-E-V-E-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɪnɪvə/ (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
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index: