dramatis personae
"dramatis-personae" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dramatis personae” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The characters in a play, story, or history; a list of them, usually arranged in order of first appearance, as protatic matter.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dramatis-personae · dramatis personae · English
dramatis personae · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dramatis personae |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dramatis personae” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dramatis personae is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The characters in a play, story, or history; a list of them, usually arranged in order of first appearance, as protatic matter.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for dramatis personae in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin dramatis personae (literally “characters of the play”). The correct English form is dramatis personae, spelled D-R-A-M-A-T-I-S- -P-E-R-S-O-N-A-E.
Definition
- 1The characters in a play, story, or history; a list of them, usually arranged in order of first appearance, as protatic matter.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dramatis personae appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
(The Devil enters like a sapphire wasp That flickers mica wings. He lifts a hand To brush away a disrespectful smile. Job’s wife sits up.) Job’s Wife ➢ Well, if we aren’t all here. Including me, the only Dramatis Personae needed to enact the problem.
Edward Winslow, in Plymouth, made a revealing statement when he wrote, “We came here to avoid the hierarchy, the holy days, the Book of Common Prayer, etc.” […] There were, depending on the local area, many types of hierarchies in England […] If all this social structure was to be “avoided,” what substitutions did New England town leaders intend in order…
Etymology
From Latin dramatis personae (literally “characters of the play”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.