spinal cord

/ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/

//ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd// noun

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

The verdict

“spinal cord” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue which is a major part of the vertebrate central nervous system. It extends from the brain stem down through the spine, with nerves branching off to various par...

Key facts for spinal cord
PropertyValue
Headwordspinal cord
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “spinal cord” sits in English frequency

spinal cord falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spinal cord is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue which is a major part of the vertebrate central nervous system. It extends from the brain stem down through the spine, with nerves branching off to various par...".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for spinal cord, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is spinal cord, spelled S-P-I-N-A-L- -C-O-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue which is a major part of the vertebrate central nervous system. It extends from the brain stem down through the spine, with nerves branching off to various parts of the body.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "spinal cord"?
"spinal cord" is spelled S-P-I-N-A-L- -C-O-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/.
What does "spinal cord" mean?
As a noun, "spinal cord" means: A thick, whitish cord of nerve tissue which is a major part of the vertebrate central nervous system. It extends from the brain stem down through the spine, with nerves branching off to various par...
How do you pronounce "spinal cord"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spinal cord" is /ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spinal cord" come from?
"spinal cord" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 “spinal cord”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is S-P-I-N-A-L- -C-O-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈspaɪ.nəl ˈkɔɹd/ (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
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