accusative

/əˈkjuːzətɪv/

//əˈkjuːzətɪv// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"accusative" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“accusative” is uncommon English (frequency #52,127 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,127
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame

Corpus desk

Index EN-accusative · accusative · English

accusative · rank #52,127 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,127
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH abstention

Nearest frequency peer: abstention (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “accusative”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “accusative” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for accusative
PropertyValue
Headwordaccusative
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/əˈkjuːzətɪv/
Letters10
Frequency rank#52,127
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “accusative” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).accusativefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “abstention” (#52,126), “acquaint” (#52,128), “admonition” (#52,130). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “accusative” is #52,127. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

accusative is uncommon English at frequency #52,127 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əˈkjuːzətɪv/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

accusative doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mist… The correct English form is accusative, spelled A-C-C-U-S-A-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
  2. 2
    Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how accusative appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This hath been a very accusative age.
  2. The proprietor of the store was rude, insulting and accusative.

Etymology

First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tĭkós, verbal adjective suffix).

This word in other languages

acusativo(Español)accusateur(Français)Akkusativ-(Deutsch)acusativo(Português)

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

How do you spell "accusative"?
"accusative" is spelled A-C-C-U-S-A-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈkjuːzətɪv/.
What does "accusative" mean?
As an adjective, "accusative" means: Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
How do you pronounce "accusative"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "accusative" is /əˈkjuːzətɪv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "accusative"?
First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "accusative", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

abstention#52,126admonition#52,130antifungal#52,147wintertime#52,105

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list