alkahest
/ˈal.kə.hɛst/noun
alkahest is spelled A-L-K-A-H-E-S-T: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alkahest means “A universal solvent sought by the alchemists” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of alkahest is alkahests.
How many letters and syllables are in alkahest?
| Letters | 8: A-L-K-A-H-E-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 87 million words; the 297,763rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is alkahest?
Alkahest appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce alkahest?
- UK /ˈal.kə.hɛst/
Alkahest has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-alkahest.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of alkahest
- alkahests plural
- alcahest
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does alkahest mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A universal solvent sought by the alchemists.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does alkahest come from?
Borrowed from Late Latin alcahest, apparently coined by Paracelsus as a pseudo-Arabism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).