characteristic
/ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/
"characteristic" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“characteristic” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,428 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #7,428
- frequency rank, English
- 14
- letters
- 22
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | characteristic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Frequency rank | #7,428 |
| Misspellings tracked | 22 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “characteristic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for characteristic is 14 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,428 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 22 likely wrong-spelling variants for characteristic, with forms such as "cahracteristic", "ccharacteristic", and "chaarcteristic". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "characteristics", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikós), from χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “a mark, character”). By surface analysis, character + -istic. The correct English form is characteristic, spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikós), from χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “a mark, character”). By surface analysis, character + -istic.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahracteristic,ccharacteristic,chaarcteristic,characcteristic,characetristic,characteirstic,characterisitc,characterisstic,characteristci,characteristicc,characteristtic,characteritsic,characterristic,charactersitic,charactreistic,charactteristic,charatceristic,charcateristic,charracteristic,chharacteristic,chraacteristic,hcaracteristic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of characteristic - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “characteristic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “characteristics” - see the side-by-side comparison. characteristic vs characteristics
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.