Thessalonica
/ˌθɛsələˈnaɪkə/
"thessalonica" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Thessalonica” is uncommon English (frequency #83,814 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,814
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative form of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Thessalonica |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌθɛsələˈnaɪkə/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #83,814 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Thessalonica” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Thessalonica is uncommon English at frequency #83,814 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˌθɛsələˈnaɪkə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Thessalonica, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin Thessalonīca, from Ancient Greek Θεσσᾰλονῑ́κη (Thessălonī́kē), named for Thessalonike daughter of Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and wife of Cassander of Macedonia, from Θεσσᾰλός (Thessălós, “Thessalian”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, … The correct English form is Thessalonica, spelled T-H-E-S-S-A-L-O-N-I-C-A.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin Thessalonīca, from Ancient Greek Θεσσᾰλονῑ́κη (Thessălonī́kē), named for Thessalonike daughter of Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and wife of Cassander of Macedonia, from Θεσσᾰλός (Thessălós, “Thessalian”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”), possibly named for her birth on the anniversary of the Battle of Crocus Field in Thessaly.
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
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Using “Thessalonica”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-E-S-S-A-L-O-N-I-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌθɛsələˈnaɪkə/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.