nursery rhyme

noun

"nursery-rhyme" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nursery rhyme” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A short poem or song for children, mostly anonymous or handed down by folklore

Corpus desk

Index EN-nursery-rhyme · nursery rhyme · English

nursery rhyme · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for nursery rhyme
PropertyValue
Headwordnursery rhyme
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nursery rhyme” in English

nursery rhymesits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nursery rhyme is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A short poem or song for children, mostly anonymous or handed down by folklore".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for nursery rhyme, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From how Victorian and Edwardian parents used to tell such rhymes to their children in the nursery, i.e. the children's bedroom. The correct English form is nursery rhyme, spelled N-U-R-S-E-R-Y- -R-H-Y-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A short poem or song for children, mostly anonymous or handed down by folklore

Etymology

From how Victorian and Edwardian parents used to tell such rhymes to their children in the nursery, i.e. the children's bedroom.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nursery rhyme"?
"nursery rhyme" is spelled N-U-R-S-E-R-Y- -R-H-Y-M-E.
What does "nursery rhyme" mean?
As a noun, "nursery rhyme" means: A short poem or song for children, mostly anonymous or handed down by folklore
What is the origin of the word "nursery rhyme"?
From how Victorian and Edwardian parents used to tell such rhymes to their children in the nursery, i.e. the children's bedroom. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list