adat

noun

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

The verdict

“adat” is uncommon English (frequency #88,030 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,030
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Traditional custom or law, in Islamic parts of Southeast Asia.

Corpus desk

Index EN-adat · adat · English

adat · rank #88,030 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,030
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH actualize

Nearest frequency peer: actualize (-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 “adat”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for adat
PropertyValue
Headwordadat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#88,030
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “adat” in English

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

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “actualize” (#88,029), “agarose” (#88,031), “accustom” (#88,027). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “adat” is #88,030. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

adat is uncommon English at frequency #88,030 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. [T]he early-nineteenth-century Padri movement […] was an accelerated programme of religious renewal in West Sumatra, an attempt to cleanse Islam of adat or local customary law and practices.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list