rachis
/ˈɹeɪkɪs/
"rachis" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rachis” is uncommon English (frequency #94,161 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #94,161
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The spinal column, or the vertebrae of the spine.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rachis · rachis · English
rachis · rank #94,161 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #94,161
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH quisling
Nearest frequency peer: quisling (-2 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “rachis”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- quarterdeck
quarterdeck
5,845 corpus weight
- quetzal
quetzal
5,844 corpus weight
- quieten
quieten
5,843 corpus weight
- quisling
quisling
5,842 corpus weight
- rachis
rachis
5,840 corpus weight
- rakish
rakish
5,836 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “rachis” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “rachis” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rachis is uncommon English at frequency #94,161 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹeɪkɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how rachis appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In some squid species, the pen rachis flares out into wings on either side, and the tip of the rachis grows into a thick cone.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rachis", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).