atavism
at·a·vism/ˈætəˌvɪzəm/noun
atavism is spelled A-T-A-V-I-S-M: 7 letters and 3 syllables (at·a·vism). It appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 173,967th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, atavism means “The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; a throwback” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of atavism is atavisms.
How many letters and syllables are in atavism?
| Letters | 7: A-T-A-V-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: at·a·vism |
| In writing | about once in every 32 million words; the 173,967th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is atavism?
Atavism appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 173,967th 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 atavism?
- US /ˈætəˌvɪzəm/
- US [ˈæɾəˌvɪzəm]
Atavism has 3 syllables, split at·a·vism in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-atavism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of atavism
- atavisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does atavism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; a throwback.
- 2
The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence.
- 3
A reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Atavism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense reappearance of an ancestral characteristic:
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 atavism come from?
Borrowed from French atavisme.. By surface analysis, at- (“to”) + Latin av(us) (“grandfather, ancestor”) + -ism. Compare ancestorism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).