gratinate

verb

"gratinate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“gratinate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To bake so as to form a gratin.

Corpus desk

Index EN-gratinate · gratinate · English

gratinate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" 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.

Key facts for gratinate
PropertyValue
Headwordgratinate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “gratinate” in English

gratinatesits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gratinate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To bake so as to form a gratin.".

gratinate doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From gratin + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French gratiner. The correct English form is gratinate, spelled G-R-A-T-I-N-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To bake so as to form a gratin.

Etymology

From gratin + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French gratiner.

This word in other languages

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gratinate"?
"gratinate" is spelled G-R-A-T-I-N-A-T-E.
What does "gratinate" mean?
As a verb, "gratinate" means: To bake so as to form a gratin.
What is the origin of the word "gratinate"?
From gratin + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French gratiner. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list