Dependant or dependent?
In American English write dependent; in British and Commonwealth English, dependant. dependant is a noun meaning “UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of dependent”; dependent is a noun meaning “A person who relies on another for support or sustenance, particularly…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) dependent is about 22 times as common as dependant.
What is the difference between dependant and dependent?
| dependant | dependent | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of dependent | Relying upon; depending upon Having a probability that is affected by the outcome of a separate event USA person who relies on another for support or sustenance, particularly financial support |
| Example | none recorded | At that point I was dependent on financial aid for my tuition |
| Forms | dependants | dependents |
| Pronunciation | /dɪˈpɛndənt/ | /dɪˈpɛndənt/ |
| Region | no label | US |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words | 19 times per million words |
Sources: dependant and dependent in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of dependant and dependent
dependant
- 1
UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of dependent
dependent
- 1
Relying upon; depending upon
At that point I was dependent on financial aid for my tuition
- 2
USA person who relies on another for support or sustenance, particularly financial support
With two children and an ailing mother, she had three dependents in all
- 3
Having a probability that is affected by the outcome of a separate event
- 4
USAn element in phrase or clause structure that is not the head. Includes complements, modifiers and determiners
- 5
Used after a particle (with one or two exceptions), such as those which express questions, subordinate clauses, and negative sentences
- 6
USThe aorist subjunctive or subjunctive perfective: a form of a verb not used independently but preceded by a particle to form the negative or a tense form. Found in Greek and in the Gaelic languages
- 7
Of part of the body: positioned lower than the heart, like the legs while standing up, or the back while supine
- 8
USdependent (origination), in Buddhism, the idea that the existence of everything is conditional and dependent on a cause, and that nothing happens fortuitously or by chance
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, dependant or dependent?
dependant appears about once in every 1 million words; dependent 19 times per million words.
dependant about once in every 1 million wordsdependent 19 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search dependant vs dependent?
“dependant vs dependent” is searched about 5,400 times a month on Google (Bing reports no separate figure) in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“dependent vs dependant”, “dependant or dependent”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.