psychiatry
/saɪˈkaɪ.əˌtɹi/
"psychiatry" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“psychiatry” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,790 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,790
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The branch of medicine that focuses on mental and behavioral health by subjectively diagnosing, treating, or preventing mental disorders (mental illnesses) and behavioural conditions.
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 | psychiatry |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /saɪˈkaɪ.əˌtɹi/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #13,790 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “psychiatry” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for psychiatry is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /saɪˈkaɪ.əˌtɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,790 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The branch of medicine that focuses on mental and behavioral health by subjectively diagnosing, treating, or preventing mental disorders (mental illnesses) and behavioural conditions.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for psychiatry, with forms such as "ppsychiatry", "pscyhiatry", and "pssychiatry". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "psychiatric", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1846. From French psychiatrie, from Medieval Latin psȳchīātria. By surface analysis, psych- + -iatry. The correct English form is psychiatry, spelled P-S-Y-C-H-I-A-T-R-Y.
Definition
- 1The branch of medicine that focuses on mental and behavioral health by subjectively diagnosing, treating, or preventing mental disorders (mental illnesses) and behavioural conditions.
Etymology
First attested in 1846. From French psychiatrie, from Medieval Latin psȳchīātria. By surface analysis, psych- + -iatry.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ppsychiatry,pscyhiatry,pssychiatry,psycchiatry,psychaitry,psychhiatry,psychiarty,psychiatrry,psychiatryy,psychiattry,psychiatyr,psychitary,psycihatry,psyhciatry,psyychiatry,pyschiatry,spychiatry
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of psychiatry - 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
How do you spell "psychiatry"?
What does "psychiatry" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "psychiatry"?
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What is the origin of the word "psychiatry"?
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Using “psychiatry”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-S-Y-C-H-I-A-T-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /saɪˈkaɪ.əˌtɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “psychiatric” - see the side-by-side comparison. psychiatry vs psychiatric
- 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.