Alexandretta

name

"alexandretta" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Alexandretta” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Former name of Iskenderun: a city in southern Turkey.

Corpus desk

Index EN-alexandretta · Alexandretta · English

Alexandretta · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "A" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for Alexandretta
PropertyValue
HeadwordAlexandretta
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Alexandretta” in English

Alexandrettaranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Alexandretta is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Former name of Iskenderun: a city in southern Turkey.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for Alexandretta in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Alexandretta and Byzantine Greek Ἀλεξανδρέττα (Alexandrétta), from Alexandria + -etta (“-ette: forming diminutives”), from Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia, “Alexandria”), from Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros, “Alexander”) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, “-ia: formin… The correct English form is Alexandretta, spelled A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-E-T-T-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Former name of Iskenderun: a city in southern Turkey.

Etymology

From Latin Alexandretta and Byzantine Greek Ἀλεξανδρέττα (Alexandrétta), from Alexandria + -etta (“-ette: forming diminutives”), from Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia, “Alexandria”), from Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros, “Alexander”) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, “-ia: forming place names”). Equivalent to Alexandria + -etta. Doublet of Alexandria, Iskenderun, Kandahar, and Scandaroon.

Synonyms

AlexandriaAlexandria on the IssusScandaroon

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Alexandretta"?
"Alexandretta" is spelled A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-E-T-T-A.
What does "Alexandretta" mean?
As a proper noun, "Alexandretta" means: Former name of Iskenderun: a city in southern Turkey.
What is the origin of the word "Alexandretta"?
From Latin Alexandretta and Byzantine Greek Ἀλεξανδρέττα (Alexandrétta), from Alexandria + -etta (“-ette: forming diminutives”), from Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia, “Alexandria”), from Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros, “Alexander”) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, “-... 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list