spinal
/spaɪ.nəl/adjective, noun
spinal is spelled S-P-I-N-A-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, spinal means “Of or relating to the spine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in spinal?
| Letters | 6: S-P-I-N-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.1 times per million words; the 8,918th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is spinal?
Spinal appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce spinal?
- /spaɪ.nəl/
- /spaɪ.nl̩/
Spinal has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spinal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with spinal?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as spinal.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: splain.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of spinal
- spinals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spinal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to the spine.
spinal injury
- 2
Of or pertaining to the spinal cord.
- 3
(of a frog or other experimental animal) Having a pithed brain, but an intact surgically isolated spinal cord.
noun
- 1
colloquialA spinal anesthesia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spinal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense related to the spine:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | spinal |
| German | Rückgrat-, spinal |
| Portuguese | espinal, espinhal, vertebral |
| Spanish | espinal, vertebral |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does spinal come from?
Borrowed from Late Latin spīnālis (“of or belonging to the spine”), from spīna (“a prickle, spine”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). By surface analysis, spine + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).