nystagmus
/nɪˈstæɡ.məs/
"nystagmus" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nystagmus” is uncommon English (frequency #87,623 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,623
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - rapid involuntary eye movement, usually lateral
Corpus desk
Index EN-nystagmus · nystagmus · English
nystagmus · rank #87,623 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,623
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH Nyborg
Nearest frequency peer: Nyborg (-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 “nystagmus”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Nuala
Nuala
12,383 corpus weight
- NVDA
NVDA
12,381 corpus weight
- Nyborg
Nyborg
12,379 corpus weight
- nystagmus
nystagmus
12,378 corpus weight
- O'Fallon
O'Fallon
12,376 corpus weight
- obstetrical
obstetrical
12,373 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “nystagmus” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nystagmus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɪˈstæɡ.məs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #87,623 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “nystagmus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
nystagmus is uncommon English at frequency #87,623 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /nɪˈstæɡ.məs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "rapid involuntary eye movement, usually lateral".
No generated misspelling entries exist for nystagmus in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1798. From New Latin nystagmus, from Ancient Greek νυσταγμός (nustagmós, “nodding, drowsiness”), from νυστάζω (nustázō, “nod, be sleepy”). The correct English form is nystagmus, spelled N-Y-S-T-A-G-M-U-S.
Definition
- 1rapid involuntary eye movement, usually lateral
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how nystagmus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
For months Travis had seen his solitary figure, shoulders hunched inside the flying jacket, in more and more newsreels, as an extra in war films, and then as a patient in an elegant ophthalmic film on nystagmus
Etymology
First attested in 1798. From New Latin nystagmus, from Ancient Greek νυσταγμός (nustagmós, “nodding, drowsiness”), from νυστάζω (nustázō, “nod, be sleepy”).
Synonyms
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nystagmus", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).