apatite
/ˈæpətaɪt/
"apatite" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“apatite” is uncommon English (frequency #74,725 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,725
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the manufacture of fertilizer, as a gemstone, and (in powdered form) as a pigment, and also produced biologically in bones an...
Corpus desk
Index EN-apatite · apatite · English
apatite · rank #74,725 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,725
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH antipodes
Nearest frequency peer: antipodes (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “apatite”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- amidships
amidships
25,282 corpus weight
- Anat
Anat
25,281 corpus weight
- antipodes
antipodes
25,277 corpus weight
- apatite
apatite
25,276 corpus weight
- apportion
apportion
25,275 corpus weight
- arad
arad
25,273 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “apatite” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | apatite |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæpətaɪt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #74,725 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “apatite” in English
Rare enough to double-check
apatite is uncommon English at frequency #74,725 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæpətaɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the manufacture of fertilizer, as a gemstone, and (in powdered form) as a pigment, and also produced biologically in bones an...".
Zero misspellings are on record for apatite in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From international scientific vocabulary, from German Apatit (“apatite”). Apatit was coined by the German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), as follows: Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πᾰ́τη (ăpắtē, “deceit, fraud”) (as it is often mistaken for other minerals) +… The correct English form is apatite, spelled A-P-A-T-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the manufacture of fertilizer, as a gemstone, and (in powdered form) as a pigment, and also produced biologically in bones and teeth.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how apatite appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We had prepared, by precipitation methods, finely divided crystalline apatites that were similar in crystal size and x-ray diffraction profile to bone apatite.
Etymology
From international scientific vocabulary, from German Apatit (“apatite”). Apatit was coined by the German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), as follows: Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πᾰ́τη (ăpắtē, “deceit, fraud”) (as it is often mistaken for other minerals) + German -it (suffix forming nouns denoting minerals or rocks; cognate with English -ite); the German word was first used in a 1786 book. Regarding minerals that were named for being deceptive and thus confused with others, compare also fool's gold.
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 "apatite"?
What does "apatite" mean?
How do you pronounce "apatite"?
What is the origin of the word "apatite"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "apatite", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).