counter-
/ˈkaʊn.tə/
"counter" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“counter-” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prefix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In opposition to.
Corpus desk
Index EN-counter · counter- · English
counter- · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | counter- |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prefix |
| IPA | /ˈkaʊn.tə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “counter-” in English
Rare enough to double-check
counter- is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprefix, transcribed /ˈkaʊn.tə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In opposition to.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for counter- in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English counter-, cownter-, countre-, from Anglo-Norman countre-, from Old French contre, ultimately from Latin contra (“against”). The correct English form is counter-, spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R--.
Definition
- 1In opposition to.
Etymology
From Middle English counter-, cownter-, countre-, from Anglo-Norman countre-, from Old French contre, ultimately from Latin contra (“against”).
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.