perineum
/ˌpɛ.ɹɪˈniː.əm/
"perineum" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“perineum” is an uncommon English word, ranked #75,283 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #75,283
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The region between the genitalia and anus.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | perineum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌpɛ.ɹɪˈniː.əm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #75,283 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “perineum” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for perineum is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌpɛ.ɹɪˈniː.əm/. Corpus data places it at rank #75,283 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The region between the genitalia and anus.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for perineum in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Late Latin perinaeum, from Ancient Greek περίναιον (perínaion, “space between the anus and scrotum”), from Ancient Greek περίνεος, περίνεοι (períneos, períneoi, “male genitals”), itself from earlier Ancient Greek περίς (perís, “penis”) through… The correct English form is perineum, spelled P-E-R-I-N-E-U-M.
Definition
- 1The region between the genitalia and anus.
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin perinaeum, from Ancient Greek περίναιον (perínaion, “space between the anus and scrotum”), from Ancient Greek περίνεος, περίνεοι (períneos, períneoi, “male genitals”), itself from earlier Ancient Greek περίς (perís, “penis”) through influence from Ancient Greek πηρίς (pērís, “scrotum”).
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 “perineum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-I-N-E-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌpɛ.ɹɪˈniː.əm/ (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
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.