varicose
/ˈvæɹ.ɪ.kəʊs/
"varicose" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“varicose” is uncommon English (frequency #51,484 among 969 “V” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,484
- frequency rank, English
- 969
- “V” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abnormally swollen, dilated or knotty.
Corpus desk
Index EN-varicose · varicose · English
varicose · rank #51,484 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,484
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 969
- PHOTO-FINISH Valli
Nearest frequency peer: Valli (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “varicose”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- vai
vai
48,520 corpus weight
- validly
validly
48,519 corpus weight
- Valli
Valli
48,518 corpus weight
- varicose
varicose
48,517 corpus weight
- vaunted
vaunted
48,516 corpus weight
- Venezia
Venezia
48,515 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “varicose” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | varicose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈvæɹ.ɪ.kəʊs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #51,484 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “varicose” in English
Rare enough to double-check
varicose is uncommon English at frequency #51,484 among 969 “V” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈvæɹ.ɪ.kəʊs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Abnormally swollen, dilated or knotty.".
varicose doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From varix, via Middle English [Term?] from Latin varix, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wers-. By surface analysis, varic- + -ose. See also Old Church Slavonic врьхъ (vrĭxŭ, “top, peak”), Ancient Greek ἕρμα (hérma, “reef, rock, hill”), Lithuanian virš… The correct English form is varicose, spelled V-A-R-I-C-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1Abnormally swollen, dilated or knotty.
Etymology
From varix, via Middle English [Term?] from Latin varix, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wers-. By surface analysis, varic- + -ose. See also Old Church Slavonic врьхъ (vrĭxŭ, “top, peak”), Ancient Greek ἕρμα (hérma, “reef, rock, hill”), Lithuanian viršus (“top”).
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "varicose", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).