spermatozoon
/ˌspɜːmətə(ʊ)ˈzəʊɒn/
"spermatozoon" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spermatozoon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A reproductive cell or gamete of a male, carried in semen, that fertilizes an ovum to produce a zygote.
Corpus desk
Index EN-spermatozoon · spermatozoon · English
spermatozoon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | spermatozoon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌspɜːmətə(ʊ)ˈzəʊɒn/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “spermatozoon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
spermatozoon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌspɜːmətə(ʊ)ˈzəʊɒn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A reproductive cell or gamete of a male, carried in semen, that fertilizes an ovum to produce a zygote.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for spermatozoon, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. 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: From Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “sperm”) + ζῷον (zōîon, “living thing”), equivalent to spermato- + -zoon. The correct English form is spermatozoon, spelled S-P-E-R-M-A-T-O-Z-O-O-N.
Definition
- 1A reproductive cell or gamete of a male, carried in semen, that fertilizes an ovum to produce a zygote.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how spermatozoon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But let us suppose [...] that one hardy or lucky spermatozoon has reached the waiting egg.
A sperm, or spermatozoa, is the microscopic male reproductive cell. Sperms are made up of oval-shaped heads and long tails that they use for mobility.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “sperm”) + ζῷον (zōîon, “living thing”), equivalent to spermato- + -zoon.
Synonyms
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.