doctrinal
/ˈdɑktɹɪnəl/adjective, noun
doctrinal is spelled D-O-C-T-R-I-N-A-L: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, doctrinal means “Of, relating to, involving, belonging to or concerning a doctrine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in doctrinal?
| Letters | 9: D-O-C-T-R-I-N-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,549th 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 doctrinal?
Doctrinal appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th 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 doctrinal?
- UK /ˈdɒktɹɪnəl/
- UK /dɒkˈtɹaɪnəl/
- US /ˈdɑktɹɪnəl/
Doctrinal has 3 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-doctrinal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of doctrinal
- doctrinals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does doctrinal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of, relating to, involving, belonging to or concerning a doctrine.
- 2
obsoleteDidactic.
noun
- 1
A matter of doctrine, or system of doctrines.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Doctrinal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of or relating to a doctrine:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | doctrinal |
| German | doktrinal |
| Portuguese | doutrinal, doutrinário |
| Spanish | doctrinal |
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 doctrinal come from?
The noun form was from French doctrinal; the adjective form was perhaps from Late Latin doctrīnālis, from doctrīna.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).