accidental
ac·ci·den·tal/ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/adjective, noun
accidental is spelled A-C-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L: 10 letters and 4 syllables (ac·ci·den·tal). It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, accidental means “Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in accidental?
| Letters | 10: A-C-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ac·ci·den·tal |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is accidental?
Accidental appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce accidental?
- /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/
Accidental has 4 syllables, split ac·ci·den·tal in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-accidental.ogg, LL-Q7979-Soundguys-accidental.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of accidental
- more accidental comparative
- most accidental superlative
- accidentals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does accidental mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.
- 2
Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).
- 3
Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.
- 4
Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.
- 5
Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.
The discovery was purely accidental.
- 6
Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.
noun
- 1
A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
- 2
Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.
- 3
A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.
- 4
Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate accidental?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of accidental: a..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Accidental in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | accidentel , altération |
| German | versehentlich, zufällig , Zufall, Versehen |
| Portuguese | acidental , acidente |
| Spanish | accidental, casual, imprevisto, fortuito |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does accidental come from?
From Middle English accidental, from Anglo-Norman accidentel, Middle French accidentel, accidental, and their source, Late Latin accidēntālis; corresponding to accident + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).