idempotent
/ˌaɪ.dəmˈpoʊ.tənt/adjective, noun
idempotent is spelled I-D-E-M-P-O-T-E-N-T: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, idempotent means “(said of a function) Such that, when performed multiple times on the same subject, it has no further effect on its subject after the first time it is…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in idempotent?
| Letters | 10: I-D-E-M-P-O-T-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 18 million words; the 127,184th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is idempotent?
Idempotent appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th 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 idempotent?
- US /ˌaɪ.dəmˈpoʊ.tənt/
- US /ˌɪ.dəmˈpoʊ.tənt/
- US /aɪˈdɛm.pə.tənt/
Idempotent has 4 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-idempotent.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of idempotent
- idempotents plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does idempotent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
(said of a function) Such that, when performed multiple times on the same subject, it has no further effect on its subject after the first time it is performed.
A projection operator is idempotent.
- 2
(said of an element of an algebraic structure with a binary operation, such as a group or semigroup) Such that, when it operates on itself, the result is equal to itself.
Every finite semigroup has an idempotent element.
- 3
(said of a binary operation) Such that all of the distinct elements it can operate on are idempotent (in the sense given just above).
Since the AND logical operator is commutative, associative, and idempotent, it distributes with respect to itself.
- 4
(said of an algebraic structure) Having an idempotent operation (in the sense given above).
noun
- 1
An idempotent element.
- 2
An idempotent structure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Idempotent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | idempotent |
| German | idempotent |
| Spanish | idempotente |
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 idempotent come from?
From Latin roots idem (“same”) + potent (“having power”), thus “having the same power”. Coined in 1870 by American mathematician Benjamin Peirce in the context of algebra, later generalized to computer science.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).