uraeus
/jʊˈɹiː.əs/
"uraeus" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“uraeus” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A representation of the sacred asp, symbolising supreme power in ancient Egypt.
Corpus desk
Index EN-uraeus · uraeus · English
uraeus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "U" 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 | uraeus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /jʊˈɹiː.əs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “uraeus” in English
Rare enough to double-check
uraeus is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /jʊˈɹiː.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A representation of the sacred asp, symbolising supreme power in ancient Egypt.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for uraeus, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin uraeus, from Ancient Greek οὐραῖος (ouraîos). This is traditionally assumed to be from Egyptian jꜥrt (“cobra in threat posture”), i-a:r:*t-I12, from jꜥr (“to rise, climb”); however, on phonetic grounds, Gundacker, following Fecht, argues for an o… The correct English form is uraeus, spelled U-R-A-E-U-S.
Definition
- 1A representation of the sacred asp, symbolising supreme power in ancient Egypt.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how uraeus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In front is an inlaid cobra, the Royal uræus, and around the band are attached 15 rosettes, each composed of four flowers and four leaves of openwork inlaid.
even a fair amount of the gold His caravans returned from the Granite Mountains near the Red Sea, were now being fashioned by royal artisans into amulets, breast pieces, gold collars, bracelets, scarabs, uraei, even gold and silver shabti […].
Etymology
From Latin uraeus, from Ancient Greek οὐραῖος (ouraîos). This is traditionally assumed to be from Egyptian jꜥrt (“cobra in threat posture”), i-a:r:*t-I12, from jꜥr (“to rise, climb”); however, on phonetic grounds, Gundacker, following Fecht, argues for an origin in Egyptian wrrt (“White Crown, uraeus”, literally “the great one”) instead.
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.