# Catherine

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈkæθɹɪn/ · frequency rank #5,943

## Definitions
1. A female given name from Ancient Greek.

## Etymology
Borrowed from French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē), *Ἑκατερίνη (*Hekaterínē), of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of the two”), or from the name of the goddess Hecate. The apheresis of the first syllable as well as the spelling with ⟨th⟩ in Latin languages, German and English, is due to a folk etymology, dating from Roman times, which associated the name with the Ancient Greek καθαρός (katharós, “pure”). The name belonged to a 4th-century saint and martyr from Alexandria who was supposedly tortured on the wheel from where the term Catherine wheel originates.

## Easily confused with
- **catering** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catering-vs-catherine)
- **Catharine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catharine-vs-catherine)

## Common misspellings (13)
`actherine`, `cahterine`, `catehrine`, `catheirne`, `catherien`, `catherinne`, `cathernie`, `catherrine`, `cathherine`, `cathreine`, `cattherine`, `ccatherine`, `ctaherine`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/catherine