inculcate
/ˈɪn.kʌl.keɪt/
"inculcate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“inculcate” is uncommon English (frequency #67,527 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,527
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To teach by repeated instruction.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | inculcate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɪn.kʌl.keɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #67,527 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “inculcate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
inculcate is uncommon English at frequency #67,527 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈɪn.kʌl.keɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for inculcate, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin inculcātus, perfect passive participle of inculcō (“impress upon, force upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + calcō (“tread upon, trample”), from calx (“heel”). Participial usage o… The correct English form is inculcate, spelled I-N-C-U-L-C-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To teach by repeated instruction.
- 2To induce understanding or a particular sentiment in a person or persons.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin inculcātus, perfect passive participle of inculcō (“impress upon, force upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + calcō (“tread upon, trample”), from calx (“heel”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “inculcate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-C-U-L-C-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪn.kʌl.keɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.