scabies

/ˈskeɪ.biz/

//ˈskeɪ.biz// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"scabies" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“scabies” is uncommon English (frequency #57,697 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,697
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An infestation of parasitic mites, Sarcoptes scabiei, causing intense itching caused by the mites burrowing into the skin of humans and other animals. It is easily transmissible from human to human...

Corpus desk

Index EN-scabies · scabies · English

scabies · rank #57,697 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,697
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH sated

Nearest frequency peer: sated (-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 “scabies”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for scabies
PropertyValue
Headwordscabies
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈskeɪ.biz/
Letters7
Frequency rank#57,697
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “scabies” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).scabiesfalls 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: “sated” (#57,696), “Scania” (#57,698), “sandbag” (#57,695). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “scabies” is #57,697. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

scabies is uncommon English at frequency #57,697 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈskeɪ.biz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An infestation of parasitic mites, Sarcoptes scabiei, causing intense itching caused by the mites burrowing into the skin of humans and other animals. It is easily transmissible from human to human...".

No generated misspelling entries exist for scabies in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. 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 scabies, scabiez, from Latin scabiēs (“scurf; scab, mange, itch”), from scabō (“scratch, scrape”, verb). The correct English form is scabies, spelled S-C-A-B-I-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    An infestation of parasitic mites, Sarcoptes scabiei, causing intense itching caused by the mites burrowing into the skin of humans and other animals. It is easily transmissible from human to human; secondary skin infection may occur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how scabies appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Further, just as the discovery of the cause of scabies proved the absurdity of many of the old prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of that disease; so the discovery of the cause of splenic fever, and other such maladies, has given a new direction to prophylactic and curative measures against the worst scourges of humanity.

Etymology

From Middle English scabies, scabiez, from Latin scabiēs (“scurf; scab, mange, itch”), from scabō (“scratch, scrape”, verb).

This word in other languages

sarna(Español)gale(Français)Krätze(Deutsch)sarna(Português)

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 "scabies"?
"scabies" is spelled S-C-A-B-I-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈskeɪ.biz/.
What does "scabies" mean?
As a noun, "scabies" means: An infestation of parasitic mites, Sarcoptes scabiei, causing intense itching caused by the mites burrowing into the skin of humans and other animals. It is easily transmissible from human to human...
How do you pronounce "scabies"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "scabies" is /ˈskeɪ.biz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "scabies"?
From Middle English scabies, scabiez, from Latin scabiēs (“scurf; scab, mange, itch”), from scabō (“scratch, scrape”, verb). 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 "scabies", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sandbag#57,695shakeup#57,707Romulan#57,686soonest#57,723

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list