tragus
/ˈtɹeɪ.ɡəs/
"tragus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tragus” is uncommon English (frequency #97,643 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,643
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The small piece of thick cartilage on the inner side of the external ear that is immediately in front of and partly closing the ear canal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tragus · tragus · English
tragus · rank #97,643 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #97,643
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 27,828
- PHOTO-FINISH tractate
Nearest frequency peer: tractate (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “tragus”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- tr00
tr00
2,361 corpus weight
- Trachtenberg
Trachtenberg
2,360 corpus weight
- tractate
tractate
2,359 corpus weight
- tragus
tragus
2,358 corpus weight
- tranq
tranq
2,357 corpus weight
- transdiscip…
transdisciplinary
2,356 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “tragus” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tragus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹeɪ.ɡəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #97,643 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tragus” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tragus is uncommon English at frequency #97,643 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɹeɪ.ɡəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The small piece of thick cartilage on the inner side of the external ear that is immediately in front of and partly closing the ear canal.".
tragus doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Late Latin tragus, from Ancient Greek τράγος (trágos, “he-goat; part of the ear”); with reference to a tuft of hair, likened to a goat’s beard, that may grow on the tragus, especially in older men. The correct English form is tragus, spelled T-R-A-G-U-S.
Definition
- 1The small piece of thick cartilage on the inner side of the external ear that is immediately in front of and partly closing the ear canal.
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin tragus, from Ancient Greek τράγος (trágos, “he-goat; part of the ear”); with reference to a tuft of hair, likened to a goat’s beard, that may grow on the tragus, especially in older men.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tragus", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency 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.