perigee

/ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/

//ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː// noun

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

"perigee" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“perigee” is uncommon English (frequency #67,724 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,724
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is closest to the Earth: the periapsis of an Earth orbiter.

Corpus desk

Index EN-perigee · perigee · English

perigee · rank #67,724 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,724
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Peltier

Nearest frequency peer: Peltier (-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 “perigee”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for perigee
PropertyValue
Headwordperigee
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/
Letters7
Frequency rank#67,724
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “perigee” 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).perigeefalls 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: “Peltier” (#67,723), “pedantry” (#67,721), “peaty” (#67,720). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “perigee” is #67,724. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

perigee is uncommon English at frequency #67,724 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for perigee, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French périgée via Latin perigeum, perigaeum, ultimately from Ancient Greek περί (perí, “near”) + γῆ (gê, “Earth”). The correct English form is perigee, spelled P-E-R-I-G-E-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is closest to the Earth: the periapsis of an Earth orbiter.
  2. 2
    The point, in an orbit about any planet, that is closest to the planet: the periapsis of any satellite.
  3. 3
    The point, in any trajectory of an object in space, where it is closest to the Earth.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how perigee appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. As the moon wheels around Earth every 28 days and shows us a progressively greater and then stingier slice of its sun-lightened face, the distance between the moon and Earth changes, too. At the nearest point along its egg-shaped orbit, its perigee, the moon may be 26,000 miles closer to us than it is at its far point.
  2. Conjunctions of I and II [Io and Europa] occur when they are near perigee and apogee respectively; conjunctions of II and III [Europa and Ganymede] occur when II [Europa] is near perigee.

Etymology

From French périgée via Latin perigeum, perigaeum, ultimately from Ancient Greek περί (perí, “near”) + γῆ (gê, “Earth”).

Antonyms

apogee

This word in other languages

perigeo(Español)périgée(Français)perigeu(Português)

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 "perigee"?
"perigee" is spelled P-E-R-I-G-E-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/.
What does "perigee" mean?
As a noun, "perigee" means: The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is closest to the Earth: the periapsis of an Earth orbiter.
How do you pronounce "perigee"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perigee" is /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒiː/. 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 "perigee"?
From French périgée via Latin perigeum, perigaeum, ultimately from Ancient Greek περί (perí, “near”) + γῆ (gê, “Earth”). 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 "perigee", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Peltier#67,723pitstop#67,736profuse#67,750prosody#67,752

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list