nuchal
/ˈnu.kəl/
"nuchal" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nuchal” is an uncommon English word, ranked #99,639 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #99,639
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The back of the neck.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nuchal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnu.kəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #99,639 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nuchal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nuchal is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnu.kəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #99,639 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
nuchal doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin nuchālis, from nucha + -ālis, from Arabic نُخَاع (nuḵāʕ, “spinal cord”). The correct English form is nuchal, spelled N-U-C-H-A-L.
Definition
- 1The back of the neck.
- 2Ellipsis of nuchal translucency scan.
- 3A neck scale, especially of a lizard.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin nuchālis, from nucha + -ālis, from Arabic نُخَاع (nuḵāʕ, “spinal cord”).
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 “nuchal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-U-C-H-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnu.kəl/ (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
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.