sebaceous
/səˈbeɪ.ʃəs/
"sebaceous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sebaceous” is uncommon English (frequency #63,984 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,984
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or relating to fat, sebum.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sebaceous · sebaceous · English
sebaceous · rank #63,984 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,984
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sealy
Nearest frequency peer: sealy (-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 “sebaceous”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- scorcher
scorcher
36,020 corpus weight
- sealy
sealy
36,018 corpus weight
- sebaceous
sebaceous
36,017 corpus weight
- seif
seif
36,016 corpus weight
- serendipito…
serendipitous
36,015 corpus weight
- serenely
serenely
36,014 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sebaceous” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sebaceous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /səˈbeɪ.ʃəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #63,984 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sebaceous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sebaceous is uncommon English at frequency #63,984 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /səˈbeɪ.ʃəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
sebaceous has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin sebaceus, from Latin sebum, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”), which Proto-Germanic *saipǭ ("soap") is also derived from. The correct English form is sebaceous, spelled S-E-B-A-C-E-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Of or relating to fat, sebum.
- 2Oozing fat.
- 3Tallowy, waxy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how sebaceous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a sebaceous plant secretion
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sebaceus, from Latin sebum, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”), which Proto-Germanic *saipǭ ("soap") is also derived from.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sebaceous", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).