tinea
/ˈtɪ.ni.ə/
"tinea" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tinea” is uncommon English (frequency #75,492 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,492
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fungal infection of the skin, known generally as ringworm.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tinea · tinea · English
tinea · rank #75,492 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #75,492
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH thresh
Nearest frequency peer: thresh (-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 “tinea”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- terahertz
terahertz
24,516 corpus weight
- terroir
terroir
24,515 corpus weight
- TGI
TGI
24,514 corpus weight
- thresh
thresh
24,512 corpus weight
- tinea
tinea
24,509 corpus weight
- townie
townie
24,502 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tinea” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tinea |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɪ.ni.ə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #75,492 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tinea” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tinea is uncommon English at frequency #75,492 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɪ.ni.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A fungal infection of the skin, known generally as ringworm.".
tinea doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin tinea (“moth; bookworm”). The correct English form is tinea, spelled T-I-N-E-A.
Definition
- 1A fungal infection of the skin, known generally as ringworm.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how tinea appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Her knees were ingrained with dirt, her toes raw with tinea, her fingernails black and broken.
Etymology
From Latin tinea (“moth; bookworm”).
Synonyms
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 "tinea"?
What does "tinea" mean?
How do you pronounce "tinea"?
What is the origin of the word "tinea"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tinea", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).