wild animal

/ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl/

//ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl// noun

"wild-animal" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wild animal” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any (nonhuman) animal living in a natural, undomesticated state.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wild-animal · wild animal · English

wild animal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "W" 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.

Key facts for wild animal
PropertyValue
Headwordwild animal
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl/
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “wild animal” in English

wild animalsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wild animal is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for wild animal in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is wild animal, spelled W-I-L-D- -A-N-I-M-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any (nonhuman) animal living in a natural, undomesticated state.
  2. 2
    A person exhibiting uncontrolled and risky, possibly aggressive, behaviour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how wild animal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Visitors must not feed the wild animals, for the health and safety of both the animals and the visitors.
  2. We've got some wild animals up in here tonight!

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wild animal"?
"wild animal" is spelled W-I-L-D- -A-N-I-M-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl/.
What does "wild animal" mean?
As a noun, "wild animal" means: Any (nonhuman) animal living in a natural, undomesticated state.
How do you pronounce "wild animal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wild animal" is /ˈwaɪld ˈænɪməl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wild animal" come from?
"wild animal" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list