Extra-curricular or extracurricular?
extra-curricular is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of extracurricular”; extracurricular is an adjective meaning “Outside of the normal curriculum of an educational establishment”. extra-curricular is written with a hyphen and extracurricular as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between extra-curricular and extracurricular?
| extra-curricular | extracurricular | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative form of extracurricular | Outside of the normal curriculum of an educational establishment Similarly outside of the normal duties of a job or profession An activity outside the normal academic curriculum |
| Example | none recorded | The students enjoy a number of extracurricular activities at weekends |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌɛkstɹəkəˈɹɪkjʊlə(ɹ)/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: extra-curricular and extracurricular 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 extra-curricular and extracurricular
extra-curricular
- 1
Alternative form of extracurricular
extracurricular
- 1
Outside of the normal curriculum of an educational establishment
The students enjoy a number of extracurricular activities at weekends
- 2
An activity outside the normal academic curriculum
- 3
Similarly outside of the normal duties of a job or profession
- 4
informalAn activity beyond official duties of a job or profession
- 5
informalExtramarital
- 6
informalAn extramarital affair
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, extra-curricular or extracurricular?
extra-curricular is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; extracurricular about once in every 1 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).