shearwater

noun

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

"shearwater" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shearwater” is uncommon English (frequency #92,059 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,059
frequency rank, English
54,294
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the long-winged pelagic seabirds of the family Procellariidae in genera Puffinus, Ardenna, and Calonectris, that breed on islands and coastal cliffs.

Key facts for shearwater
PropertyValue
Headwordshearwater
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#92,059
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “shearwater” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). shearwater lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

shearwater is uncommon English at frequency #92,059 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for shearwater in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From shear + water. The correct English form is shearwater, spelled S-H-E-A-R-W-A-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of the long-winged pelagic seabirds of the family Procellariidae in genera Puffinus, Ardenna, and Calonectris, that breed on islands and coastal cliffs.
  2. 2
    Any of the entire family Procellariidae, including certain of the petrels.

Etymology

From shear + water.

Synonyms

haglet

This word in other languages

puffin(Français)Sturmtaucher(Deutsch)

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 "shearwater"?
"shearwater" is spelled S-H-E-A-R-W-A-T-E-R.
What does "shearwater" mean?
As a noun, "shearwater" means: Any of the long-winged pelagic seabirds of the family Procellariidae in genera Puffinus, Ardenna, and Calonectris, that breed on islands and coastal cliffs.
What is the origin of the word "shearwater"?
From shear + water. 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.

Using “shearwater”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-H-E-A-R-W-A-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list