rachis
/ˈɹeɪkɪs/
"rachis" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rachis” is an uncommon English word, ranked #94,161 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #94,161
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The spinal column, or the vertebrae of the spine.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rachis |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹeɪkɪs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #94,161 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rachis” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rachis is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹeɪkɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #94,161 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for rachis, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin rachis, from Ancient Greek ῥάχις (rhákhis, “spine, ridge”). The correct English form is rachis, spelled R-A-C-H-I-S.
Definition
- 1The spinal column, or the vertebrae of the spine.
- 2An anatomical shaft or axis in a marine invertebrate.
- 3The central shaft of a feather.
- 4The axis of either a compound leaf, inflorescence, or fern frond.
Etymology
From New Latin rachis, from Ancient Greek ῥάχις (rhákhis, “spine, ridge”).
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 “rachis”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-C-H-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹeɪkɪs/ (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.