climate change

/ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ/

//ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ// noun

"climate-change" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“climate change” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Natural large-scale and long-term change in the Earth's climatic system, as brought about by ice ages.

Corpus desk

Index EN-climate-change · climate change · English

climate change · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for climate change
PropertyValue
Headwordclimate change
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ/
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “climate change” in English

climate changesits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

climate change is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

climate change has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is climate change, spelled C-L-I-M-A-T-E- -C-H-A-N-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Natural large-scale and long-term change in the Earth's climatic system, as brought about by ice ages.
  2. 2
    Rapid, large-scale, and long-term change in the Earth's climatic system produced by global warming; anthropogenic climate change.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how climate change appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.
  2. “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods,” he writes. “It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "climate change"?
"climate change" is spelled C-L-I-M-A-T-E- -C-H-A-N-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ/.
What does "climate change" mean?
As a noun, "climate change" means: Natural large-scale and long-term change in the Earth's climatic system, as brought about by ice ages.
How do you pronounce "climate change"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "climate change" is /ˈklaɪmət ˌtʃeɪndʒ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "climate change" come from?
"climate change" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list