elucidate
eluc·id·ate/əˈlusəˌdeɪt/verb
elucidate is spelled E-L-U-C-I-D-A-T-E, 3 syllables: eluc·id·ate. The wrong spelling people search most is ellucidate: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 83 of all searches for the word. Elucidate is a verb meaning “To make (something) clear and understandable; to clarify, to illuminate, to shed light on”.
How many letters and syllables are in elucidate?
| Letters | 9: E-L-U-C-I-D-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: eluc·id·ate |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,660th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, ellucidate, about 40 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 elucidate?
Elucidate is spelled E-L-U-C-I-D-A-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 83 of the searches for elucidate 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 elucidate?
Elucidate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,660th 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 elucidate?
- UK /ɪˈl(j)uːsɪdeɪt/
- US /əˈlusəˌdeɪt/
- US /i-/
As an adjective (“Clear, understandable”): /ɪˈl(j)uːsɪdət/, /əˈlusəˌdət/, /i-/.
Elucidate has 3 syllables, split eluc·id·ate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-elucidate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of elucidate
- elucidates present, singular, he/she/it
- elucidating participle, present
- elucidated participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
- more elucidate comparative
- most elucidate superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does elucidate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo make (something) lucid (“bright, luminous; also, clear, transparent”).
- 2
To make (something) clear and understandable; to clarify, to illuminate, to shed light on.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteClear, understandable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Elucidate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to make (something) clear and understandable – see also clarify, illuminate, dil:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | élucider, expliquer |
| German | erklären, erläutern, verdeutlichen |
| Portuguese | elucidar, esclarecer |
| Spanish | elucidar |
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 elucidate come from?
From Late Latin ēlūcidātus, perfect passive participle of ēlūcidō (“to lighten, enlighten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ē(x)- (“out, from”) + lūcidus (“bright, clear, understandable”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), literally “to make light of (something)”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”). Compare French élucider.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).