travail
/tɹəˈveɪl/
"travail" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“travail” is uncommon English (frequency #52,684 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,684
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | travail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɹəˈveɪl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #52,684 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “travail” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
travail is uncommon English at frequency #52,684 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /tɹəˈveɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for travail in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *tréyes ] From Middle English travail, from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), deverbal of travailler, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre, from Late Latin tripālium, from Latin tripālis (“held up by three stakes”) from Proto-Italic *trēs + *pāk… The correct English form is travail, spelled T-R-A-V-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
- 2Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
- 3An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).
- 4The eclipse of a celestial object.
- 5Obsolete form of travel.
- 6Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)
Etymology
PIE word *tréyes ] From Middle English travail, from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), deverbal of travailler, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre, from Late Latin tripālium, from Latin tripālis (“held up by three stakes”) from Proto-Italic *trēs + *pākslos from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-. Doublet of travel and travois.
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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Using “travail”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-A-V-A-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɹəˈveɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this 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.