clinical
cli·ni·cal/ˈklɪn.ɪ.kəl/adjective, noun
clinical is spelled C-L-I-N-I-C-A-L, 3 syllables: cli·ni·cal. The wrong spelling people search most is clincial: about 70 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 82 of all searches for the word. Clinical is an adjective meaning “Dealing with the practical management of patients, in practice at the point of care; as contrasted with other…”.
How many letters and syllables are in clinical?
| Letters | 8: C-L-I-N-I-C-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: cli·ni·cal |
| In writing | 32 times per million words; the 2,941st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, clincial, about 70 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell clinical?
Clinical is spelled C-L-I-N-I-C-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 82 of the searches for clinical in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is clinical?
Clinical appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,941st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce clinical?
- /ˈklɪn.ɪ.kəl/
Clinical has 3 syllables, split cli·ni·cal in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-clinical.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of clinical
- more clinical comparative
- most clinical superlative
- clinicals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does clinical mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Dealing with the practical management of patients, in practice at the point of care; as contrasted with other health care venues (see clinical medicine for more explanation).
- 2
Of or pertaining to a clinic, such as a medical clinic or law clinic.
Medicine is now more often practiced in a clinical setting than in the home.
- 3
Cool and emotionless, in a professional way, as contrasted with an impetuous or unprofessional way.
- 4
Objective; analytical.
We took a clinical approach to resolving conflicts.
- 5
Excellent and precise.
- 6
obsoleteOf or relating to a bed, especially a deathbed.
a clinical convert: one who turns to religion on their death-bed
noun
- 1
A medical student's session spent in a real-world nursing environment.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Clinical in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does clinical come from?
From clinic + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).