nostrum
/ˈnɒs.tɹəm/
"nostrum" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nostrum” is uncommon English (frequency #66,144 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,144
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects.
Corpus desk
Index EN-nostrum · nostrum · English
nostrum · rank #66,144 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,144
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH normalise
Nearest frequency peer: normalise (-1 rank slots)
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “nostrum”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- nonbinary
nonbinary
33,861 corpus weight
- nonfat
nonfat
33,860 corpus weight
- normalisati…
normalisation
33,859 corpus weight
- normalise
normalise
33,858 corpus weight
- nostrum
nostrum
33,857 corpus weight
- Noto
Noto
33,856 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “nostrum” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nostrum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɒs.tɹəm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #66,144 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nostrum” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
nostrum is uncommon English at frequency #66,144 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈnɒs.tɹəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for nostrum in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin nostrum (“ours”), nominative neuter of noster (“our, ours”). The correct English form is nostrum, spelled N-O-S-T-R-U-M.
Definition
- 1A medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects.
- 2An ineffective but favorite remedy for a problem, usually involving political action.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how nostrum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: paternoster, patent medicine, snake oil
Nay, he would sometimes retire hither to take his beer, and it was not without difficulty that he was prevented from forcing Jones to take his beer too: for no quack ever held his nostrum to be a more general panacea than he did this; which, he said, had more virtue in it than was in all the physic in an apothecary's shop.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin nostrum (“ours”), nominative neuter of noster (“our, ours”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nostrum", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
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- Usage frequency rank #66,144 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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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.