adat

noun

"adat" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“adat” is an uncommon English word, ranked #88,030 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#88,030
frequency rank, English
4
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Traditional custom or law, in Islamic parts of Southeast Asia.

Key facts for adat
PropertyValue
Headwordadat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#88,030
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “adat” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). adat lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for adat is 4 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #88,030 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Traditional custom or law, in Islamic parts of Southeast Asia.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for adat, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Malay adat, from Classical Persian عادت ('ādat), from Arabic عَادَة (ʕāda, “habit, custom”), from the verb عَوْدَ (ʕawda, “to appertain, to be proper”). The correct English form is adat, spelled A-D-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Traditional custom or law, in Islamic parts of Southeast Asia.

Etymology

Borrowed from Malay adat, from Classical Persian عادت ('ādat), from Arabic عَادَة (ʕāda, “habit, custom”), from the verb عَوْدَ (ʕawda, “to appertain, to be proper”).

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 "adat"?
"adat" is spelled A-D-A-T.
What does "adat" mean?
As a noun, "adat" means: Traditional custom or law, in Islamic parts of Southeast Asia.
What is the origin of the word "adat"?
Borrowed from Malay adat, from Classical Persian عادت ('ādat), from Arabic عَادَة (ʕāda, “habit, custom”), from the verb عَوْدَ (ʕawda, “to appertain, to be proper”). 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.

Using “adat”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is A-D-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list