abstinent
/ˈæb.stɪ.nn̩t/
"abstinent" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“abstinent” is an uncommon English word, ranked #84,950 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #84,950
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | abstinent |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈæb.stɪ.nn̩t/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #84,950 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “abstinent” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for abstinent is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæb.stɪ.nn̩t/. Corpus data places it at rank #84,950 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for abstinent in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the late 14th century as Middle English abstinent, abstynent, from Old French abstinent, from Latin abstinēns, present participle of abstineō. See abstain. The correct English form is abstinent, spelled A-B-S-T-I-N-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite.
Etymology
First attested in the late 14th century as Middle English abstinent, abstynent, from Old French abstinent, from Latin abstinēns, present participle of abstineō. See abstain.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “abstinent”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-S-T-I-N-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæb.stɪ.nn̩t/ (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
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.