semicolon
/ˌsɛmiˈkəʊlən/
"semicolon" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“semicolon” is uncommon English (frequency #54,472 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,472
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The punctuation mark ;.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | semicolon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsɛmiˈkəʊlən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #54,472 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “semicolon” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
semicolon is uncommon English at frequency #54,472 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsɛmiˈkəʊlən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The punctuation mark ;.".
Zero misspellings are on record for semicolon in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From semi- + colon. The correct English form is semicolon, spelled S-E-M-I-C-O-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1The punctuation mark ;.
Etymology
From semi- + colon.
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 “semicolon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-M-I-C-O-L-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌsɛmiˈkəʊlən/ (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.