squama

noun

"squama" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A scale cast off from the skin; a thin dry shred of epithelium.

Corpus desk

Index EN-squama · squama · English

squama · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 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.

Key facts for squama
PropertyValue
Headwordsquama
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “squama” in English

squamasits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

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

Rare enough to double-check

squama is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for squama, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin squāma (“scale”). Doublet of squame. The correct English form is squama, spelled S-Q-U-A-M-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A scale cast off from the skin; a thin dry shred of epithelium.
  2. 2
    The bract of a deciduous spike.
  3. 3
    Any scaly bracted leaf.
  4. 4
    A calypter.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin squāma (“scale”). Doublet of squame.

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 "squama"?
"squama" is spelled S-Q-U-A-M-A.
What does "squama" mean?
As a noun, "squama" means: A scale cast off from the skin; a thin dry shred of epithelium.
What is the origin of the word "squama"?
Borrowed from Latin squāma (“scale”). Doublet of squame. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list