quality-adjusted life year
"quality-adjusted-life-year" is a 23-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quality-adjusted life year” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 26
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A unit of measurement, equivalent to one year of life in perfect health, that can be used to decide whether a medical procedure is worthwhile for an individual.
Corpus desk
Index EN-quality-adjusted-life-ye · quality-adjusted life year · English
quality-adjusted life year · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 26 letters
- VOW-12 12 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Q" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quality-adjusted life year |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 26 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “quality-adjusted life year” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
quality-adjusted life year is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A unit of measurement, equivalent to one year of life in perfect health, that can be used to decide whether a medical procedure is worthwhile for an individual.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quality-adjusted life year, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is quality-adjusted life year, spelled Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y---A-D-J-U-S-T-E-D- -L-I-F-E- -Y-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1A unit of measurement, equivalent to one year of life in perfect health, that can be used to decide whether a medical procedure is worthwhile for an individual.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how quality-adjusted life year appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) is a generic measure of health-related quality of life that takes into account both the quantity and the quality of life generated by interventions.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "quality-adjusted life year"?
What does "quality-adjusted life year" mean?
What language does "quality-adjusted life year" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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.