patellar

/pəˈtɛl.ɚ/

//pəˈtɛl.ɚ// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"patellar" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“patellar” is uncommon English (frequency #78,923 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,923
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - near or relating to the patella or kneecap

Corpus desk

Index EN-patellar · patellar · English

patellar · rank #78,923 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,923
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH patentable

Nearest frequency peer: patentable (+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 “patellar”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for patellar
PropertyValue
Headwordpatellar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/pəˈtɛl.ɚ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#78,923
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “patellar” 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).patellarfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “patentable” (#78,924), “Patroclus” (#78,925), “patronus” (#78,926). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “patellar” is #78,923. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

patellar is uncommon English at frequency #78,923 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /pəˈtɛl.ɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "near or relating to the patella or kneecap".

No misspelling variants are generated for patellar in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From patella + -ar. The correct English form is patellar, spelled P-A-T-E-L-L-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    near or relating to the patella or kneecap

Etymology

From patella + -ar.

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 "patellar"?
"patellar" is spelled P-A-T-E-L-L-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈtɛl.ɚ/.
What does "patellar" mean?
As an adjective, "patellar" means: near or relating to the patella or kneecap
How do you pronounce "patellar"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "patellar" is /pəˈtɛl.ɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "patellar"?
From patella + -ar. 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 "patellar", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

patronus#78,926princeps#78,958prompter#78,962Raimondo#78,981

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list