rugose
/ɹʊˈɡəʊs/
"rugose" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rugose” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having rugae or wrinkles, creases, ridges, or corrugation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rugose · rugose · English
rugose · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 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 | rugose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɹʊˈɡəʊs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rugose” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rugose is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ɹʊˈɡəʊs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for rugose in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin rūgōsus (“wrinkled”). The correct English form is rugose, spelled R-U-G-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1Having rugae or wrinkles, creases, ridges, or corrugation.
- 2Rugged, rough, unrefined.
- 3Having a rough, wrinkled, or wavy surface; commonly in parasynthetic usage e.g. "rugose-veined" or "rugose-leaved".
- 4Describing fossil corals of the extinct order †Rugosa (also called Tetracoralla), that have horn-shaped corals with surfaces covered with ridges.
- 5Used when combined with another adjective, for example, rugose-reticulate or rugose-punctate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rugose appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Petraea foliis rugosis ovatis. The oval, rugose-leaved Petraea. The root is brachiated; the shrub rises to ten feet high: the leaves are three inches long, an inch and a half broad, even at the edges, and very rough to the touch: (Note: In modern nomenclature, the plant in question probably is Petrea rugosa, as the spelling "Petraea" does not seem to matc…
The original leaves were flat and very rugose, and almost hid by the numerous single-stemmed flowers; while the leaves produced in the umbellate state were larger, more upright, and less wrinkled.
Etymology
From Latin rūgōsus (“wrinkled”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.