retina
/ˈɹɛt.ɪ.nə/
"retina" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“retina” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,227 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,227
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The thin layer of cells at the back of the eyeball that contains rods and cones sensitive to light, which trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is ...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | retina |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹɛt.ɪ.nə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #17,227 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retina” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for retina is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹɛt.ɪ.nə/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,227 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The thin layer of cells at the back of the eyeball that contains rods and cones sensitive to light, which trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is ...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for retina, with forms such as "ertina", "reitna", and "retinna". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "Rina", "retire", "rewind", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rethina, borrowing from Medieval Latin rētīna (“retina”, feminine noun), ellipsis of tunica rētīna (“net-like tunic”), used to describe the blood vessel system at the back of the eye. The phrase is attested in the 12th century in Guillel… The correct English form is retina, spelled R-E-T-I-N-A.
Definition
- 1The thin layer of cells at the back of the eyeball that contains rods and cones sensitive to light, which trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is formed.
Etymology
From Middle English rethina, borrowing from Medieval Latin rētīna (“retina”, feminine noun), ellipsis of tunica rētīna (“net-like tunic”), used to describe the blood vessel system at the back of the eye. The phrase is attested in the 12th century in Guillelmus the abbot and Gerard of Cremona—the latter may have created this phrase as a translation for Arabic طَبَقَة شَبَكِيَّة (ṭabaqa šabakiyya) "net-like layer", which translates Ancient Greek ἀμφιβληστροειδής χῐτών (amphiblēstroeidḗs khĭtṓn, “retina”), which is attested in the ancient medical writer Galen.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ertina,reitna,retinna,retnia,rettina,rretina,rteina
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retina - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “retina”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-T-I-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹɛt.ɪ.nə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Rina” - see the side-by-side comparison. retina vs Rina
- 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.