orb
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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3 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "orb", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "orb" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "orb" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
orb is aEnglishnoun. It means: A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star Pronounced /ɔɹb/. Often confused with OS and oz.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | orb |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɔɹb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #20,723 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for orb is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɔɹb/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,723 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for orb in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "OS", "oz", "OT", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English orbe, from Old French orbe, from Latin orbis (“circle, orb”). Compare orbit. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is orb, spelled O-R-B, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star
- 2Celestial sphere; one of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be enclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions
- 3A structural motif or finial in the shape of a sphere
- 4An orbit of an heavenly body
- 5The time period of an orbit
- 6The eye, seen as a luminous and spherical entity
- 7Any revolving circular body, such as a wheel
- 8A sphere of action.
- 9A globus cruciger; a ceremonial sphere used to represent royal or imperial power
- 10A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography (Orb (optics))
- 11A body of soldiers drawn up in a circle, as for defence, especially infantry to repel cavalry.
- 12Amount of deviation from the closest perfect aspect.
Etymology
From Middle English orbe, from Old French orbe, from Latin orbis (“circle, orb”). Compare orbit.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #20,723 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index: