wyvern
/ˈwaɪvən/
"wyvern" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wyvern” is uncommon English (frequency #66,414 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,414
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wyvern |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwaɪvən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #66,414 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wyvern” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
wyvern is uncommon English at frequency #66,414 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwaɪvən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.".
Zero misspellings are on record for wyvern in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper. The correct English form is wyvern, spelled W-Y-V-E-R-N.
Definition
- 1A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.
Etymology
Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.
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.
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Using “wyvern”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-Y-V-E-R-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwaɪvən/ (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.