cathodic

adj

"cathodic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cathodic” is uncommon English (frequency #97,919 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,919
frequency rank, English
43,570
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Proceeding from a nerve centre; efferent.

Key facts for cathodic
PropertyValue
Headwordcathodic
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters8
Frequency rank#97,919
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cathodic” 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). cathodic lands here:

#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

cathodic is uncommon English at frequency #97,919 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cathodic, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cathode + -ic. Coined by William Whewell in 1837 in a letter to Michael Faraday. The correct English form is cathodic, spelled C-A-T-H-O-D-I-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Proceeding from a nerve centre; efferent.
  2. 2
    Relating to, functioning as, or occurring at a cathode.

Etymology

From cathode + -ic. Coined by William Whewell in 1837 in a letter to Michael Faraday.

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

How do you spell "cathodic"?
"cathodic" is spelled C-A-T-H-O-D-I-C.
What does "cathodic" mean?
As an adjective, "cathodic" means: Proceeding from a nerve centre; efferent.
What is the origin of the word "cathodic"?
From cathode + -ic. Coined by William Whewell in 1837 in a letter to Michael Faraday. 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 “cathodic”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is C-A-T-H-O-D-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list