sunstroke

/ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk/

//ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk// noun

"sunstroke" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sunstroke” is uncommon English (frequency #82,825 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,825
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Heat stroke caused by an excessive exposure to the sun's rays.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sunstroke · sunstroke · English

sunstroke · rank #82,825 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,825
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH summative

Nearest frequency peer: summative (-3 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “sunstroke”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “sunstroke” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sunstroke
PropertyValue
Headwordsunstroke
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk/
Letters9
Frequency rank#82,825
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “sunstroke” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).sunstrokefalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “summative” (#82,822), “substituent” (#82,819), “syllogism” (#82,831). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sunstroke” is #82,825. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sunstroke is uncommon English at frequency #82,825 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Heat stroke caused by an excessive exposure to the sun's rays.".

sunstroke doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From sun + stroke. The correct English form is sunstroke, spelled S-U-N-S-T-R-O-K-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Heat stroke caused by an excessive exposure to the sun's rays.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sunstroke appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But, however this may be, the grounds upon which I base my belief that "chill" in the one case, and "heat" in the other, is the most common exciting cause of these maladies, respectively, are furnished by the fact that malarious fevers are found to prevail with a periodicity corresponding with that of the annual seasons of greatest change in the weather e…
  2. Idiopathic non-septic periencephalitis may be produced by profound grief, protracted anxiety, especially when accompanied by great overwork, partial starvation combined with the gnawing anxiety of deep poverty, and also, it is affirmed, by sunstroke.

Etymology

From sun + stroke.

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); 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 "sunstroke"?
"sunstroke" is spelled S-U-N-S-T-R-O-K-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk/.
What does "sunstroke" mean?
As a noun, "sunstroke" means: Heat stroke caused by an excessive exposure to the sun's rays.
How do you pronounce "sunstroke"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sunstroke" is /ˈsʌnˌstɹoʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sunstroke"?
From sun + stroke. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sunstroke", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list