afterburner

noun

"afterburner" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“afterburner” is an uncommon English word, ranked #72,068 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#72,068
frequency rank, English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device in a jet engine which injects fuel into the exhaust system to increase the thrust.

Key facts for afterburner
PropertyValue
Headwordafterburner
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#72,068
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “afterburner” 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). afterburner 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 afterburner is 11 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #72,068 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A device in a jet engine which injects fuel into the exhaust system to increase the thrust.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for afterburner, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From after- + burner. The correct English form is afterburner, spelled A-F-T-E-R-B-U-R-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device in a jet engine which injects fuel into the exhaust system to increase the thrust.

Etymology

From after- + burner.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "afterburner"?
"afterburner" is spelled A-F-T-E-R-B-U-R-N-E-R.
What does "afterburner" mean?
As a noun, "afterburner" means: A device in a jet engine which injects fuel into the exhaust system to increase the thrust.
What is the origin of the word "afterburner"?
From after- + burner. 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 “afterburner”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is A-F-T-E-R-B-U-R-N-E-R - 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