nursemaid

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"nursemaid" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nursemaid” is uncommon English (frequency #91,873 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,873
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A woman or girl employed to care for children.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nursemaid · nursemaid · English

nursemaid · rank #91,873 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,873
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH nullity

Nearest frequency peer: nullity (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “nursemaid”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “nursemaid” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for nursemaid
PropertyValue
Headwordnursemaid
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#91,873
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nursemaid” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).nursemaidfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “nullity” (#91,872), “nyet” (#91,874), “nudism” (#91,871). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “nursemaid” is #91,873. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nursemaid is uncommon English at frequency #91,873 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A woman or girl employed to care for children.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for nursemaid, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From nurse + maid. The correct English form is nursemaid, spelled N-U-R-S-E-M-A-I-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A woman or girl employed to care for children.

Etymology

From nurse + maid.

Synonyms

nannynurserymaid

This word in other languages

niñera(Español)nounou(Français)babá(Português)

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

How do you spell "nursemaid"?
"nursemaid" is spelled N-U-R-S-E-M-A-I-D.
What does "nursemaid" mean?
As a noun, "nursemaid" means: A woman or girl employed to care for children.
What is the origin of the word "nursemaid"?
From nurse + maid. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nursemaid", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

octopussy#91,877noughties#91,868noiseless#91,862neisseria#91,851

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list