rapeseed

noun

"rapeseed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“rapeseed” is uncommon English (frequency #55,677 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,677
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The seed of the rape plant (Brassica napus), used widely for animal feed and vegetable oil.

Corpus desk

Index EN-rapeseed · rapeseed · English

rapeseed · rank #55,677 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,677
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH rarefied

Nearest frequency peer: rarefied (+1 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 “rapeseed”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “rapeseed” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rapeseed
PropertyValue
Headwordrapeseed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#55,677
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “rapeseed” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).rapeseedfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “rarefied” (#55,678), “Raghu” (#55,674), “RCP” (#55,680). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “rapeseed” is #55,677. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rapeseed is uncommon English at frequency #55,677 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

rapeseed doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rape sede, rape seed, equivalent to rape (“rapeseed plant(s)”) + seed. As a meronym for the entire plant, from the need to distinguish the plant from the etymologically unrelated verb and act rape. In this context, rape is from Latin rāp… The correct English form is rapeseed, spelled R-A-P-E-S-E-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    The seed of the rape plant (Brassica napus), used widely for animal feed and vegetable oil.
  2. 2
    The rape plant itself.

Etymology

From Middle English rape sede, rape seed, equivalent to rape (“rapeseed plant(s)”) + seed. As a meronym for the entire plant, from the need to distinguish the plant from the etymologically unrelated verb and act rape. In this context, rape is from Latin rāpa, from rāpum (“turnip”).

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "rapeseed"?
"rapeseed" is spelled R-A-P-E-S-E-E-D.
What does "rapeseed" mean?
As a noun, "rapeseed" means: The seed of the rape plant (Brassica napus), used widely for animal feed and vegetable oil.
What is the origin of the word "rapeseed"?
From Middle English rape sede, rape seed, equivalent to rape (“rapeseed plant(s)”) + seed. As a meronym for the entire plant, from the need to distinguish the plant from the etymologically unrelated verb and act rape. In this context, rape is from... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rapeseed", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list