determinant
/dɪˈtɝmɪnənt/noun, adjective
determinant is spelled D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-N-T: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, determinant means “A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of determinant is determinants.
How many letters and syllables are in determinant?
| Letters | 11: D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is determinant?
Determinant appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th 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 determinant?
- UK /dɪˈtɜːmɪnənt/
- US /dɪˈtɝmɪnənt/
- US /dɪˈtɝmənənt/
Determinant has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Sapaa-determinant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of determinant
- determinants plural
- more determinant comparative
- most determinant superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does determinant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something.
- 2
A scalar that encodes certain characteristics of a given transformation matrix; the unique scalar function over square matrices which is distributive over matrix multiplication, multilinear in the rows and columns, and takes the value 1 for the unit matrix; abbreviated as: det.
- 3
A substance that causes a cell to adopt a particular fate.
- 4
Something that causes a nuclease to cut at a specified point
adjective
- 1
Serving to determine or limit; determinative.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Determinant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | déterminant |
| Portuguese | determinante |
| German | Determinante |
| Spanish | determinante |
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 determinant come from?
Borrowed from French déterminant, equivalent to determine + -ant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).