anachronism
/əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/
"anachronism" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“anachronism” is uncommon English (frequency #50,933 among 35,202 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,933
- frequency rank, English
- 35,202
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | anachronism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #50,933 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “anachronism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
anachronism is uncommon English at frequency #50,933 among 35,202 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for anachronism, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin anachronismus, from Ancient Greek ἀναχρονισμός (anakhronismós), from ἀναχρονίζομαι (anakhronízomai, “referring to the wrong time”), from ἀνά (aná, “up against”) + χρονίζω (khronízō, “spending time”), from χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). Analyzable … The correct English form is anachronism, spelled A-N-A-C-H-R-O-N-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
- 2A person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time.
- 3The aberrant projection of the present onto the past.
Etymology
From New Latin anachronismus, from Ancient Greek ἀναχρονισμός (anakhronismós), from ἀναχρονίζομαι (anakhronízomai, “referring to the wrong time”), from ἀνά (aná, “up against”) + χρονίζω (khronízō, “spending time”), from χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). Analyzable as ana- + chrono- + -ism.
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
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Using “anachronism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-A-C-H-R-O-N-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.