amphipathic
/ˌæm.fəˈpæ.θɪk/adjective
amphipathic is spelled A-M-P-H-I-P-A-T-H-I-C. The wrong spelling people search most is amphipatic: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 37 of all searches for the word. Amphipathic is an adjective meaning “Describing a molecule, such as a detergent, which has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups”.
How many letters and syllables are in amphipathic?
| Letters | 11: A-M-P-H-I-P-A-T-H-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 38 million words; the 189,524th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, amphipatic, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell amphipathic?
Amphipathic is spelled A-M-P-H-I-P-A-T-H-I-C. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for amphipathic in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is amphipathic?
Amphipathic appears about once in every 38 million words in written English, the 189,524th 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 amphipathic?
- UK /ˌam.fɪˈpaθ.ɪk/
- US /ˌæm.fəˈpæ.θɪk/
Amphipathic has 4 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-amphipathic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with amphipathic?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as amphipathic from its last stressed vowel (/æθɪk/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
What does amphipathic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Describing a molecule, such as a detergent, which has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups.
- 2
Of the surface(s) on a protein, particularly an alpha helix, where one surface of the alpha helix has hydrophilic amino acids and the opposite face has hydrophobic (or lipophilic) amino acids.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Amphipathic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of a molecule: having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | anfipático |
| Spanish | anfipático |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does amphipathic come from?
From amphi- + Ancient Greek παθικός (pathikós, “remaining passive in a sexual intercourse”), from Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí, “on both sides”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).