wildebeest
/ˈwɪldəbist/
"wildebeest" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wildebeest” is uncommon English (frequency #52,103 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,103
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The gnu.
Corpus desk
Index EN-wildebeest · wildebeest · English
wildebeest · rank #52,103 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,103
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH wilco
Nearest frequency peer: wilco (-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 “wildebeest”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- wifey
wifey
47,900 corpus weight
- wilco
wilco
47,899 corpus weight
- wildebeest
wildebeest
47,898 corpus weight
- Wilks
Wilks
47,897 corpus weight
- wintertime
wintertime
47,896 corpus weight
- woodcut
woodcut
47,895 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “wildebeest” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wildebeest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɪldəbist/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #52,103 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “wildebeest” in English
Rare enough to double-check
wildebeest is uncommon English at frequency #52,103 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwɪldəbist/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The gnu.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for wildebeest, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed in the early 19th century from early Afrikaans wildebeest, modern wildebees (literally “wild ox”), with influence from beast. The correct English form is wildebeest, spelled W-I-L-D-E-B-E-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1The gnu.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how wildebeest appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dassoud […] stepped forward with a lash composed of the caudal appendages of half a dozen wildebeests.
Later that morning, they wrapped Ian in a wildebeest skin and buried him near a shepherd tree.
Etymology
Borrowed in the early 19th century from early Afrikaans wildebeest, modern wildebees (literally “wild ox”), with influence from beast.
Synonyms
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 "wildebeest", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).