artificial
/ˌɑɹ.təˈfɪʃ.əl/adjective
artificial is spelled A-R-T-I-F-I-C-I-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is artifical: about 240 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Artificial is an adjective meaning “Man-made; made by humans; of artifice”.
How many letters and syllables are in artificial?
| Letters | 10: A-R-T-I-F-I-C-I-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,752nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, artifical, about 240 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 artificial?
Artificial is spelled A-R-T-I-F-I-C-I-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for artificial 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 artificial?
Artificial appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd 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 artificial?
- UK /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
- UK [ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.l̩]
- US /ˌɑɹ.təˈfɪʃ.əl/
Artificial has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-artificial.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with artificial?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as artificial from its last stressed vowel (/ɪʃəl/):
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).
Forms of artificial
- more artificial comparative
- most artificial superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does artificial mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Man-made; made by humans; of artifice.
The flowers were artificial, and he thought them rather tacky.
- 2
Insincere; fake, forced, or feigned.
Her manner was somewhat artificial.
- 3
Not natural or normal: imposed arbitrarily or without regard to the specifics or normal circumstances of a person, a situation, etc.
- 4
Based on characteristics useful for identification, without regard for the formal differences used in classification.
- 5
Conveying some meaning other than the actual contents of one's hand.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Artificial in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | artificiel |
| German | künstlich , unnatürlich, affektiert |
| Portuguese | artificial , falso |
| Spanish | artificial |
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 artificial come from?
From Middle English artificial (“man-made”) via Old French (modern French artificiel), from Latin artificiālis from artificium (“skill”), from artifex, from ars (“skill”), and -fex, from facere (“to make”). Displaced native Old English cræftlīċ.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).