cardinality

Name: cardinality, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/

//kɑːdɪˈnælɪti// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“cardinality” is uncommon English (frequency #65,763 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,763
frequency rank, English: 43,570
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The number of elements a given set contains.

Key facts for cardinality
Property	Value
Headword	cardinality
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/
Letters	11
Frequency rank	#65,763
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cardinality” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). cardinality lands here:

#65,763

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cardinality is uncommon English at frequency #65,763 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cardinality, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cardinal + -ity. The correct English form is cardinality, spelled C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L-I-T-Y.

Definition

1
The number of elements a given set contains.
2
The number of terms that can inhabit a type; the possible values of a type.
3
The property of a relationship between a database table and another one, specifying whether it is one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many.
4
The status of being cardinalitial

Etymology

From cardinal + -ity.

This word in other languages

cardinalité(Français)Kardinalität(Deutsch)

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 "cardinality"?

"cardinality" is spelled C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/.

What does "cardinality" mean?

As a noun, "cardinality" means: The number of elements a given set contains.

How do you pronounce "cardinality"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cardinality" is /kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/. 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 "cardinality"?

From cardinal + -ity. 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.

Using “cardinality”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L-I-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as /kɑːdɪˈnælɪti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.