apotropaic
/ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk/
"apotropaic" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“apotropaic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Intended to ward off evil.
Corpus desk
Index EN-apotropaic · apotropaic · English
apotropaic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | apotropaic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “apotropaic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
apotropaic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌæpətɹəˈpeɪ.ɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Intended to ward off evil.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for apotropaic, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek ἀποτρόπαιος (apotrópaios), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) and τρόπος (trópos, “turn”); thus meaning “causing things to turn away”, as in “turns away evil”. The correct English form is apotropaic, spelled A-P-O-T-R-O-P-A-I-C.
Definition
- 1Intended to ward off evil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how apotropaic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Wormwood [...] was associated with the rites of St. John's Eve, when a crown of the plant was made from its sprays for apotropaic purposes, to ward of malefic spirits.
A boring subtext, about the wisdom or otherwise of actually uttering Voldemort's name, meanwhile robs the apotropaic device of its force.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀποτρόπαιος (apotrópaios), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) and τρόπος (trópos, “turn”); thus meaning “causing things to turn away”, as in “turns away evil”.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.