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PlainSpell

cartridge

car·tridgeUK /ˈkɑːtɹɪd͡ʒ/noun

cartridge is spelled C-A-R-T-R-I-D-G-E, 2 syllables: car·tridge. The wrong spelling people search most is cartrige: about 70 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 43 of all searches for the word. Cartridge is a noun meaning “The package consisting of the bullet, primer, and casing containing gunpowder; a round of ammunition”. The plural of cartridge is cartridges.

How many letters and syllables are in cartridge?

Letters9: C-A-R-T-R-I-D-G-E
Syllables2: car·tridge
In writing3.7 times per million words; the 13,496th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched3; the most searched, cartrige, about 70 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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); 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).

How do you spell cartridge?

Cartridge is spelled C-A-R-T-R-I-D-G-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 34 of the searches for cartridge in either form.

cartridgethe right spelling2,960 searches a month
cartrigea missing d70 searches a month
cardridged in place of t10 searches a month
cartdridgean extra d10 searches a month

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 cartridge?

Cartridge appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th 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 cartridge?

  • UK /ˈkɑːtɹɪd͡ʒ/
  • UK [ˈkɑːtɹ̝̊ʷɪd͡ʒ]
  • UK [ˈkɑːt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪd͡ʒ]

Cartridge has 2 syllables, split car·tridge in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cartridge.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-cartridge.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of cartridge

  • cartridges plural
  • cartage

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cartridge mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The package consisting of the bullet, primer, and casing containing gunpowder; a round of ammunition.

  2. 2

    A prefabricated subassembly that can be easily installed in or removed from a larger mechanism or replaced with another interchangeable subassembly.

  3. 3

    A replaceable valve assembly within a faucet or shower fixture that regulates the flow and temperature of the water.

  4. 4

    A vessel which contains the ink or toner for a computer printer and can be easily replaced with another.

  5. 5

    Magnetic tape storage, used for storing (backup) copies of data.

  6. 6

    A removable enclosure containing read-only memory devices, used for rapid loading of software onto a home computer or video game console.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA small paper package, e.g. in an old book about making printer's type: After all the type has been cast: "The Boy will paper up each sort in a cartridge by itself".

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cartridge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcartouche (firearms package)
GermanPatrone (firearms package), Kartusche (vessel which contains the ink for a computer…)
Portuguesecartucho, pente (firearms package), fita (enclosure containing read-only memory devices)
Spanishcartucho, cartuchera (firearms package), cartucho de tinta, cartridge (kártrich) (vessel which contains the ink for a computer…)

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 cartridge come from?

Corruption of earlier cartage, from French cartouche, from Italian cartoccio (“roll of paper”), from Medieval Latin carta (“paper”). Doublet of cartouche.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cartridge