irrealis
ir·real·is/ɪɹiˈɑːlɪs/adjective, noun
irrealis is spelled I-R-R-E-A-L-I-S: 8 letters and 3 syllables (ir·real·is). It appears about once in every 68 million words in written English, the 258,950th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, irrealis means “Inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is not a fact” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in irrealis?
| Letters | 8: I-R-R-E-A-L-I-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ir·real·is |
| In writing | about once in every 68 million words; the 258,950th 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 irrealis?
Irrealis appears about once in every 68 million words in written English, the 258,950th 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 irrealis?
- /ɪɹiˈɑːlɪs/
- /ɪɹiˈælɪs/
- /ɪˈɹiəlɪs/
Irrealis has 3 syllables, split ir·real·is in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of irrealis
- irrealises plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does irrealis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is not a fact.
noun
- 1
An irrealis construct.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does irrealis come from?
Learned borrowing from New Latin irreālis (“intangible, immaterial”), from Latin in- (“un-: not”) + reālis (“real, material, composed of physical things”), from res (“thing”) + -ālis (“-al: forming adjectives”). Doublet of irreal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).