thyroid gland

noun

"thyroid-gland" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large butterfly-shaped endocrine gland situated on the front of the neck that produces various hormones.

Key facts for thyroid gland
PropertyValue
Headwordthyroid gland
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “thyroid gland” sits in English frequency

thyroid gland falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

thyroid gland is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A large butterfly-shaped endocrine gland situated on the front of the neck that produces various hormones.".

Zero misspellings are on record for thyroid gland in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin glandula thyreoidea, coined by Thomas Wharton in 1656. The correct English form is thyroid gland, spelled T-H-Y-R-O-I-D- -G-L-A-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large butterfly-shaped endocrine gland situated on the front of the neck that produces various hormones.

Etymology

From New Latin glandula thyreoidea, coined by Thomas Wharton in 1656.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "thyroid gland"?
"thyroid gland" is spelled T-H-Y-R-O-I-D- -G-L-A-N-D.
What does "thyroid gland" mean?
As a noun, "thyroid gland" means: A large butterfly-shaped endocrine gland situated on the front of the neck that produces various hormones.
What is the origin of the word "thyroid gland"?
From New Latin glandula thyreoidea, coined by Thomas Wharton in 1656. 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.

Using “thyroid gland”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-H-Y-R-O-I-D- -G-L-A-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list