tympany
/ˈtɪmpəni/
"tympany" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tympany” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The sound made by beating a drum.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tympany · tympany · English
tympany · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tympany |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɪmpəni/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tympany” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tympany is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɪmpəni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tympany, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined based on Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon). The correct English form is tympany, spelled T-Y-M-P-A-N-Y.
Definition
- 1The sound made by beating a drum.
- 2Tympanites (distention of the abdomen).
- 3Inflation; conceit; bombast; turgidness.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tympany appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Thine's a tympany of sense.
Dr. Johnson, for his triads and his antithetic balances, he taxes more than once with a plethoric and tautologic tympany of sentence
Etymology
Coined based on Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon).
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.
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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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.