breathalyzer

/ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ/

//ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"breathalyzer" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“breathalyzer” is uncommon English (frequency #59,923 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,923
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A device that measures alcohol in expired air so as to estimate the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood; used by traffic police in cases of suspected driving while under the influence of a...

Corpus desk

Index EN-breathalyzer · breathalyzer · English

breathalyzer · rank #59,923 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,923
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH breakeven

Nearest frequency peer: breakeven (-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 “breathalyzer”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “breathalyzer” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for breathalyzer
PropertyValue
Headwordbreathalyzer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ/
Letters12
Frequency rank#59,923
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “breathalyzer” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).breathalyzerfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “breakeven” (#59,922), “brining” (#59,924), “brio” (#59,925). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “breathalyzer” is #59,923. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

breathalyzer is uncommon English at frequency #59,923 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A device that measures alcohol in expired air so as to estimate the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood; used by traffic police in cases of suspected driving while under the influence of a...".

Zero misspellings are on record for breathalyzer in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Blend of breath + analyzer. Originally a trademark of Smith & Wesson. The correct English form is breathalyzer, spelled B-R-E-A-T-H-A-L-Y-Z-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device that measures alcohol in expired air so as to estimate the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood; used by traffic police in cases of suspected driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how breathalyzer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. During the three day class we took one day of classroom study followed by one day of operating the breathalyzer and one day of drinking. Yes, I said drinking. […] I hated it but I got it down long enough to take the breathalyzer test. I blew a .11 on the model 900A Breathalyzer.

Etymology

Blend of breath + analyzer. Originally a trademark of Smith & Wesson.

This word in other languages

alcoholímetro(Español)éthylotest(Français)Blasrohr(Deutsch)bafómetro(Português)

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 "breathalyzer"?
"breathalyzer" is spelled B-R-E-A-T-H-A-L-Y-Z-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ/.
What does "breathalyzer" mean?
As a noun, "breathalyzer" means: A device that measures alcohol in expired air so as to estimate the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood; used by traffic police in cases of suspected driving while under the influence of a...
How do you pronounce "breathalyzer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "breathalyzer" is /ˈbɹɛθəlaɪzɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "breathalyzer"?
Blend of breath + analyzer. Originally a trademark of Smith & Wesson. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "breathalyzer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

carbonaceous#59,941Bhattacharya#59,898anticipatory#59,858antagonizing#59,856

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list