distinguished
dis·tin·guished/dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃt/adjective, verb
distinguished is spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D, 3 syllables: dis·tin·guished. The wrong spelling people search most is distingished: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 222 of all searches for the word. Distinguished is an adjective meaning “Celebrated, well-known or eminent because of achievements or rank; prestigious”.
How many letters and syllables are in distinguished?
| Letters | 13: D-I-S-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: dis·tin·guished |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, distingished, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell distinguished?
Distinguished is spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H-E-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 220 of the searches for distinguished in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is distinguished?
Distinguished appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st 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 distinguished?
- /dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃt/
Distinguished has 3 syllables, split dis·tin·guished in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-distinguished.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of distinguished
- more distinguished comparative
- most distinguished superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does distinguished mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Celebrated, well-known or eminent because of achievements or rank; prestigious.
The lecture was attended by many distinguished mathematicians.
- 2
Having a dignified appearance or demeanor.
Her father was a distinguished gentleman, albeit a poor one.
- 3
Specified, noted.
Let X be a topological space with a distinguished point p.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of distinguish
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Distinguished in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | distingué |
| German | bedeutend, hervorragend , vornehm, distinguiert |
| Portuguese | distinto |
| Spanish | distinguido |
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 distinguished come from?
From distinguish + -ed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).