thrips
"thrips" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“thrips” is uncommon English (frequency #71,164 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,164
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.
Corpus desk
Index EN-thrips · thrips · English
thrips · rank #71,164 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,164
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH thermite
Nearest frequency peer: thermite (-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 “thrips”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- theosophy
theosophy
28,840 corpus weight
- therapeutic…
therapeutically
28,839 corpus weight
- thermite
thermite
28,838 corpus weight
- thrips
thrips
28,837 corpus weight
- thur
thur
28,836 corpus weight
- tipu
tipu
28,833 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “thrips” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | thrips |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,164 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “thrips” in English
Rare enough to double-check
thrips is uncommon English at frequency #71,164 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for thrips, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Ancient Greek θρίψ (thríps, “wood-worm”). The correct English form is thrips, spelled T-H-R-I-P-S.
Definition
- 1Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how thrips appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The turnrows and margins of the fields should be cultivated often enough to prevent the growth of weeds, many forms of which harbor the onion thrips.
2002, Thrips, article in International Wildlife Encyclopedia Volume 19, Picture caption, page 2676, The thousands of thrips species include among their number the smallest of all winged insects.
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek θρίψ (thríps, “wood-worm”).
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "thrips", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).