Ursa Major
/ˌɝsə ˈmeɪdʒɚ/
"ursa-major" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Ursa Major” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large circumpolar constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a bear. It includes the familiar asterism the Big Dipper and the stars Mizar, Dubhe, and Alkaid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ursa-major · Ursa Major · English
Ursa Major · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 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 | Ursa Major |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌɝsə ˈmeɪdʒɚ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Ursa Major” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Ursa Major is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˌɝsə ˈmeɪdʒɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A large circumpolar constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a bear. It includes the familiar asterism the Big Dipper and the stars Mizar, Dubhe, and Alkaid.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Ursa Major in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin Ursa maior (“(the) greater bear”). The correct English form is Ursa Major, spelled U-R-S-A- -M-A-J-O-R.
Definition
- 1A large circumpolar constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a bear. It includes the familiar asterism the Big Dipper and the stars Mizar, Dubhe, and Alkaid.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Ursa Major appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My father compounded with my mother under the dragon's tail, and my nativity was under ursa major.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin Ursa maior (“(the) greater bear”).
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.