thoracotomy

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"thoracotomy" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“thoracotomy” is uncommon English (frequency #89,991 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,991
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The surgical procedure of making an incision into the chest, normally as a first step to gain access to the thoracic organs, such as the heart, the lungs, and the esophagus.

Corpus desk

Index EN-thoracotomy · thoracotomy · English

thoracotomy · rank #89,991 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,991
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Theotokos

Nearest frequency peer: Theotokos (-1 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 “thoracotomy”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for thoracotomy
PropertyValue
Headwordthoracotomy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#89,991
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “thoracotomy” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).thoracotomyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Theotokos” (#89,990), “Timebomb” (#89,993), “thallus” (#89,988). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “thoracotomy” is #89,991. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

thoracotomy is uncommon English at frequency #89,991 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The surgical procedure of making an incision into the chest, normally as a first step to gain access to the thoracic organs, such as the heart, the lungs, and the esophagus.".

Zero misspellings are on record for thoracotomy in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From thoraco- + -tomy. The correct English form is thoracotomy, spelled T-H-O-R-A-C-O-T-O-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The surgical procedure of making an incision into the chest, normally as a first step to gain access to the thoracic organs, such as the heart, the lungs, and the esophagus.

Etymology

From thoraco- + -tomy.

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 "thoracotomy"?
"thoracotomy" is spelled T-H-O-R-A-C-O-T-O-M-Y.
What does "thoracotomy" mean?
As a noun, "thoracotomy" means: The surgical procedure of making an incision into the chest, normally as a first step to gain access to the thoracic organs, such as the heart, the lungs, and the esophagus.
What is the origin of the word "thoracotomy"?
From thoraco- + -tomy. 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 "thoracotomy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

transcriber#90,002unorganised#90,025subcortical#89,952senselessly#89,886

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list