ossifrage
/ˈɒsɪfɹɪd͡ʒ/
"ossifrage" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ossifrage” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gypaetus barbatus, the bearded vulture, the diet of which is almost exclusively bone marrow.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ossifrage · ossifrage · English
ossifrage · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ossifrage |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɒsɪfɹɪd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ossifrage” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ossifrage is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɒsɪfɹɪd͡ʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ossifrage, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French ossifrage, from Latin ossifraga (“osprey”), ossifragus (“osprey”), from ossifragus (“bone breaking”). The correct English form is ossifrage, spelled O-S-S-I-F-R-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1Gypaetus barbatus, the bearded vulture, the diet of which is almost exclusively bone marrow.
- 2The young of the sea eagle or bald eagle.
- 3The osprey.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ossifrage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray […]
Calcareous lies, slate, and trap are still to be found there, rising from layers of conglomerate, like teeth from a gum; but the pickaxe has broken up and leveled those bristling, rugged peaks which were once the fearful perches of the ossifrage.
Etymology
From Middle French ossifrage, from Latin ossifraga (“osprey”), ossifragus (“osprey”), from ossifragus (“bone breaking”).
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.