yellow fever
"yellow-fever" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yellow fever” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An acute febrile illness of tropical regions, caused by a flavivirus (Yellow fever virus) and spread by certain mosquitoes, characterised by jaundice, black vomit and the absence of urination.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yellow fever |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “yellow fever” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
yellow fever is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for yellow fever, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is yellow fever, spelled Y-E-L-L-O-W- -F-E-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1An acute febrile illness of tropical regions, caused by a flavivirus (Yellow fever virus) and spread by certain mosquitoes, characterised by jaundice, black vomit and the absence of urination.
- 2An attraction to ethnically East Asian men or women, expressed by non-East Asian (especially white European male or white American) people.
- 3A lust for gold; an obsession with seeking gold ore.
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
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Using “yellow fever”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Y-E-L-L-O-W- -F-E-V-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.