ornithology
/ˌɔːnɪˈθɒlədʒi/
"ornithology" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ornithology” is uncommon English (frequency #51,891 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,891
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The branch of zoology that deals with the scientific study of birds.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ornithology |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɔːnɪˈθɒlədʒi/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #51,891 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ornithology” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ornithology is uncommon English at frequency #51,891 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɔːnɪˈθɒlədʒi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The branch of zoology that deals with the scientific study of birds.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ornithology, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin ornithologia, coined by Ulisse Aldrovandi from Ancient Greek ὀρνιθολόγος (ornithológos), from ὄρνις (órnis) and λόγος (lógos). See also ornitho- + -logy. The correct English form is ornithology, spelled O-R-N-I-T-H-O-L-O-G-Y.
Definition
- 1The branch of zoology that deals with the scientific study of birds.
Etymology
From New Latin ornithologia, coined by Ulisse Aldrovandi from Ancient Greek ὀρνιθολόγος (ornithológos), from ὄρνις (órnis) and λόγος (lógos). See also ornitho- + -logy.
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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Using “ornithology”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-R-N-I-T-H-O-L-O-G-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɔːnɪˈθɒlədʒi/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.