varicella
/ˌvæɹɪˈsɛlə/
"varicella" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“varicella” is uncommon English (frequency #72,014 among 7,391 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,014
- frequency rank, English
- 7,391
- “V” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - chicken pox
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | varicella |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌvæɹɪˈsɛlə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #72,014 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “varicella” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
varicella is uncommon English at frequency #72,014 among 7,391 “V” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌvæɹɪˈsɛlə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for varicella, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin varicella, diminutive of variola (“pox”). The correct English form is varicella, spelled V-A-R-I-C-E-L-L-A.
Definition
- 1chicken pox
- 2Any of various other eruptive diseases, such as swinepox, hives, and varioloid.
Etymology
From New Latin varicella, diminutive of variola (“pox”).
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 “varicella”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-R-I-C-E-L-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌvæɹɪˈsɛlə/ (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.