scarlet fever
"scarlet-fever" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scarlet fever” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A streptococcal infection, mainly occurring among children, and characterized by a red skin rash, sore throat and fever.
Corpus desk
Index EN-scarlet-fever · scarlet fever · English
scarlet fever · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" 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 | scarlet fever |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “scarlet fever” in English
Rare enough to double-check
scarlet fever is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
scarlet fever has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: (attraction to soldiers): In allusion to the red coats they used to wear. The correct English form is scarlet fever, spelled S-C-A-R-L-E-T- -F-E-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1A streptococcal infection, mainly occurring among children, and characterized by a red skin rash, sore throat and fever.
- 2Romantic attraction to soldiers in preference to other people.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how scarlet fever appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"I am sure," replied Mrs. Palmer, "if it were not wicked, I should be glad that you had the scarlet fever; I am so much happier since I knew you...
Soldiers are notorious for hunting up these women, especially nurse-maids and those that in the execution of their duty walk in the Parks, when they may easily be accosted. Nurse-maids feel flattered by the attention that is lavished upon them, and are always ready to succumb to the “scarlet fever.” A red coat is all powerful with this class, who prefer a…
Etymology
(attraction to soldiers): In allusion to the red coats they used to wear.
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.