diacritical
adjective, noun
diacritical is spelled D-I-A-C-R-I-T-I-C-A-L: 11 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, diacritical means “Capable of distinguishing or of making a distinction” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in diacritical?
| Letters | 11: D-I-A-C-R-I-T-I-C-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 118,441st 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 diacritical?
Diacritical appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st 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 diacritical?
- US
Diacritical has 5 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)-Flame,_not_lame-diacritical.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of diacritical
- more diacritical comparative
- most diacritical superlative
- diacriticals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does diacritical mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Capable of distinguishing or of making a distinction.
- 2
Of, pertaining to, or serving as a diacritic.
noun
- 1
Synonym of diacritical mark (adnoun equivalent).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Diacritical in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of, pertaining to, or serving as a diacritic:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | diacrítico |
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.