element
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "element", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "element" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "element" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
element is aEnglishnoun. It means: One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based. Pronounced /ˈɛlɪmənt/. It ranks #3,228 in English word frequency. Often confused with eleven and elements.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | element |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛlɪmənt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,228 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for element is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛlɪmənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,228 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 23 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for element, with forms such as "eelment", "eleemnt", and "elemennt". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "eleven", "elements", "eleventh", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English element, from Old French element, from Latin elementum (“a first principle, element, rudiment”) (see further etymology there). The verb is from Middle English elementen, from the noun. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is element, spelled E-L-E-M-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 2One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 3One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 4One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 5One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 6One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 7One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 8One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 9One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
- 10A small part of the whole.
- 11A small but present amount of a quality, a hint.
- 12A factor, one of the conditions contributing to a result.
- 13The sky.
- 14Any one of the heavenly spheres believed to carry the celestial bodies in premodern cosmology.
- 15Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.
- 16A place or state of being that a person or object is best suited to.
- 17The bread and wine taken at Holy Communion.
- 18A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.
- 19The basic principles of a field of knowledge, basics, fundamentals, rudiments.
- 20A component in electrical equipment, often in the form of a coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.
- 21An infinitesimal interval of a quantity, a differential.
- 22An orbital element; one of the parameters needed to uniquely specify a particular orbit.
- 23One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by tags.
Etymology
From Middle English element, from Old French element, from Latin elementum (“a first principle, element, rudiment”) (see further etymology there). The verb is from Middle English elementen, from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eelment,eleemnt,elemennt,elementt,elemetn,elemment,elemnet,ellement,elmeent,leement
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for element
Misspelling Variants of "element"
Frequency rank: #3,228 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter E in our English index: