reredos
/ˈɹiə.dɒs/
"reredos" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reredos” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.
Corpus desk
Index EN-reredos · reredos · English
reredos · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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 | reredos |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹiə.dɒs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “reredos” in English
Rare enough to double-check
reredos is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹiə.dɒs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
reredos has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English reredos, from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear”) + French dos (“back”). The correct English form is reredos, spelled R-E-R-E-D-O-S.
Definition
- 1A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.
- 2The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls and in some later architecture inspired by them.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how reredos appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonym: retable (often synonymous)
A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.
Etymology
From Middle English reredos, from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear”) + French dos (“back”).
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.