paraplegia

noun

"paraplegia" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“paraplegia” is uncommon English (frequency #85,625 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,625
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A condition where the lower half of a patient's body is paralyzed and cannot move.

Corpus desk

Index EN-paraplegia · paraplegia · English

paraplegia · rank #85,625 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,625
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH papilloma

Nearest frequency peer: papilloma (-3 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 “paraplegia”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “paraplegia” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for paraplegia
PropertyValue
Headwordparaplegia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#85,625
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “paraplegia” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).paraplegiafalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “papilloma” (#85,622), “Patmore” (#85,629), “pantanal” (#85,620). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “paraplegia” is #85,625. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

paraplegia is uncommon English at frequency #85,625 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A condition where the lower half of a patient's body is paralyzed and cannot move.".

Zero misspellings are on record for paraplegia in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin paraplegia, from Ancient Greek παραπληγίη (paraplēgíē), Ionic Greek for παραπληξία (paraplēxía, “paralysis on one side”), from παραπλήσσεσθαι (paraplḗssesthai, “to be stricken on one side”), active παραπλήσσειν (paraplḗssein, “to strike on on… The correct English form is paraplegia, spelled P-A-R-A-P-L-E-G-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A condition where the lower half of a patient's body is paralyzed and cannot move.

Etymology

From New Latin paraplegia, from Ancient Greek παραπληγίη (paraplēgíē), Ionic Greek for παραπληξία (paraplēxía, “paralysis on one side”), from παραπλήσσεσθαι (paraplḗssesthai, “to be stricken on one side”), active παραπλήσσειν (paraplḗssein, “to strike on one side”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + πλήσσειν (plḗssein, “to strike”).

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

How do you spell "paraplegia"?
"paraplegia" is spelled P-A-R-A-P-L-E-G-I-A.
What does "paraplegia" mean?
As a noun, "paraplegia" means: A condition where the lower half of a patient's body is paralyzed and cannot move.
What is the origin of the word "paraplegia"?
From New Latin paraplegia, from Ancient Greek παραπληγίη (paraplēgíē), Ionic Greek for παραπληξία (paraplēxía, “paralysis on one side”), from παραπλήσσεσθαι (paraplḗssesthai, “to be stricken on one side”), active παραπλήσσειν (paraplḗssein, “to st... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "paraplegia", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list