ringworm
/ˈɹɪŋˌwɝm/
"ringworm" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ringworm” is uncommon English (frequency #67,796 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,796
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ringworm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹɪŋˌwɝm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #67,796 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ringworm” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ringworm is uncommon English at frequency #67,796 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹɪŋˌwɝm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ringworm, 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 ringworm (“ringworm; intestinal worm”), from Old English rengwyrm (“maw-worm, intestinal worm”), equivalent to ring + worm. The correct English form is ringworm, spelled R-I-N-G-W-O-R-M.
Definition
- 1A contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.
Etymology
From Middle English ringworm (“ringworm; intestinal worm”), from Old English rengwyrm (“maw-worm, intestinal worm”), equivalent to ring + worm.
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
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Using “ringworm”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-I-N-G-W-O-R-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹɪŋˌwɝm/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.