Altair
/ˈɔːltɛə(ɹ)/
"altair" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Altair” is an uncommon English word, ranked #53,367 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #53,367
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The brightest star in the constellation Aquila; Alpha (α) Aquilae. It is the twelfth brightest star in the sky, and forms one corner of the Summer Triangle.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Altair |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈɔːltɛə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #53,367 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Altair” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Altair is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɔːltɛə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #53,367 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The brightest star in the constellation Aquila; Alpha (α) Aquilae. It is the twelfth brightest star in the sky, and forms one corner of the Summer Triangle.".
Altair doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the Arabic اَلنَّسْر اَلطَّائِر (an-nasr aṭ-ṭāʔir, “the flying eagle”), from نَسْر (nasr, “eagle”) + طَائِر (ṭāʔir, “flying”). The correct English form is Altair, spelled A-L-T-A-I-R.
Definition
- 1The brightest star in the constellation Aquila; Alpha (α) Aquilae. It is the twelfth brightest star in the sky, and forms one corner of the Summer Triangle.
Etymology
From the Arabic اَلنَّسْر اَلطَّائِر (an-nasr aṭ-ṭāʔir, “the flying eagle”), from نَسْر (nasr, “eagle”) + طَائِر (ṭāʔir, “flying”).
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 "Altair"?
What does "Altair" mean?
How do you pronounce "Altair"?
What is the origin of the word "Altair"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Altair”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-T-A-I-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɔːltɛə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.