catalyst
/ˈkæt.ə.lɪst/noun
catalyst is spelled C-A-T-A-L-Y-S-T. The wrong spelling people search most is catylist: about 160 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 98 of all searches for the word. Catalyst is a noun meaning “A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process”. The plural of catalyst is catalysts.
How many letters and syllables are in catalyst?
| Letters | 8: C-A-T-A-L-Y-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, catylist, about 160 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell catalyst?
Catalyst is spelled C-A-T-A-L-Y-S-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 98 of the searches for catalyst 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 catalyst?
Catalyst appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 catalyst?
- UK /ˈkæt.ɪ.lɪst/
- US /ˈkæt.ə.lɪst/
- US [ˈkæɾ.ə.lɪst]
Catalyst has 3 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-ncalif-catalyst.ogg, En-au-catalyst.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of catalyst
- catalysts plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does catalyst mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process.
- 2
Something that encourages progress or change.
(obsolete)
- 3
An inciting incident that sets the successive conflict into motion.
- 4
A catalytic converter.
- 5
An object that facilitates the casting of a spell (such as a magic wand).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Catalyst in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | catalyseur , ferment, démiurge, électron libre, levain |
| German | Katalysator |
| Portuguese | catalisador |
| Spanish | catalizador , fermento, levadura, agitador, demiurgo |
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 catalyst come from?
From catalysis + -ist.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).