plasmid
/ˈplæzmɪd/
"plasmid" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“plasmid” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,823 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #42,823
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaea...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | plasmid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈplæzmɪd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #42,823 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plasmid” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for plasmid is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈplæzmɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #42,823 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaea...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for plasmid, with forms such as "lpasmid", "palsmid", and "plamsid". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "plastic", "plaid", "plasma", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From plasma + -id, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952. The correct English form is plasmid, spelled P-L-A-S-M-I-D.
Definition
- 1A loop of double-stranded DNA that is separate from — and replicates independently of — the chromosomes; such loops are most commonly found in bacteria, but they are also sometimes found in archaeans and eukaryotic cells, and they are used in genetic engineering as a vector for gene transfer.
Etymology
From plasma + -id, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpasmid,palsmid,plamsid,plasimd,plasmdi,plasmidd,plasmmid,plassmid,pllasmid,plsamid,pplasmid
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plasmid - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “plasmid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-L-A-S-M-I-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈplæzmɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “plastic” - see the side-by-side comparison. plasmid vs plastic
- 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.