determinative

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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

The verdict

“determinative” is uncommon English (frequency #80,379 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,379
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.

Corpus desk

Index EN-determinative · determinative · English

determinative · rank #80,379 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,379
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH determiner

Nearest frequency peer: determiner (+1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “determinative”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “determinative” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for determinative
PropertyValue
Headworddeterminative
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters13
Frequency rank#80,379
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “determinative” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).determinativefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “determiner” (#80,380), “deriding” (#80,377), “DGAF” (#80,381). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “determinative” is #80,379. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

determinative is uncommon English at frequency #80,379 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for determinative, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French déterminatif. The correct English form is determinative, spelled D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.
  2. 2
    A member of a class of words functioning in a noun phrase to identify or distinguish a referent without describing or modifying it.

Etymology

From Middle French déterminatif.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "determinative"?
"determinative" is spelled D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-V-E.
What does "determinative" mean?
As a noun, "determinative" means: An ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.
What is the origin of the word "determinative"?
From Middle French déterminatif. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "determinative", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

directionless#80,388explosiveness#80,437assemblywoman#80,204inhomogeneous#80,563

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list