catatonic
/kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/
"catatonic" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“catatonic” is uncommon English (frequency #57,281 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,281
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of, relating to, or suffering from catatonia; having a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | catatonic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #57,281 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “catatonic” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
catatonic is uncommon English at frequency #57,281 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for catatonic in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is catatonic, spelled C-A-T-A-T-O-N-I-C.
Definition
- 1Of, relating to, or suffering from catatonia; having a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation.
- 2Motionless and unresponsive, as from shock; withdrawn.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “catatonic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-T-A-T-O-N-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/ (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.