complement
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
10 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "complement", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "complement" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "complement" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
complement is aEnglishnoun. It means: The totality, the full amount or number which completes something. Pronounced /ˈkɒmpləmənt/. Often confused with compliment and compliments.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | complement |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒmpləmənt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #10,019 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for complement is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɒmpləmənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,019 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 22 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 16 documented wrong-spelling variants for complement, with forms such as "ccomplement", "cmoplement", and "comlpement". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "compliment", "compliments", "complemented", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“to fill up; to complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is complement, spelled C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
- 2The whole working force of a vessel.
- 3An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
- 4Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole; loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition.
- 5A word or group of words that completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object.
- 6A phonetic complement is a graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of its reading (as opposed to an adjunct that abbreviates an adjective that modifies that logogram).
- 7An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
- 8The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
- 9Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement).
- 10One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
- 11An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
- 12A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
- 13A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
- 14The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.
- 15The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.
- 16The numeric complement of a number.
- 17A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa.
- 18Synonym of alexin.
- 19Abbreviation of complementary good.
- 20Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation.
- 21The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment.
- 22Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory.
Etymology
From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“to fill up; to complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccomplement,cmoplement,comlpement,commplement,compelment,compleemnt,complemennt,complementt,complemetn,complemment,complemnet,compllement,complmeent,compplement,copmlement,ocmplement
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for complement
Misspelling Variants of "complement"
Frequency rank: #10,019 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "complement"?
What does "complement" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "complement"?
How do you pronounce "complement"?
What is the origin of the word "complement"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: