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irreversible

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

12 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "irreversible", 12-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "irreversible" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "irreversible" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

irreversible is anEnglishadj. It means: Incapable of being reversed or turned about or back; incapable of being made to run backwards. Pronounced /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/.

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Key facts for irreversible
PropertyValue
Headwordirreversible
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/
Letters12
Frequency rank#20,144
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of irreversible in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for irreversible is 12 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,144 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for irreversible, with forms such as "irerversible", "ireversible", and "irreevrsible". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From ir- + reversible. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is irreversible, spelled I-R-R-E-V-E-R-S-I-B-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Incapable of being reversed or turned about or back; incapable of being made to run backwards.
  2. 2
    Incapable of being reversed, recalled, repealed, or annulled.
  3. 3
    Incapable of being reversed to the original state without consumption of free energy and increase of entropy.

Etymology

From ir- + reversible.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: irerversible,ireversible,irreevrsible,irreverisble,irreverrsible,irreversable,irreversbile,irreversibble,irreversibel,irreversiblle,irreversilbe,irreverssible,irrevesrible,irrevresible,irrevversible,irrveersible,rireversible

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for irreversible

Misspelling Variants of "irreversible"

irerversible12ireversible11irreevrsible12irreverisble12irreverrsible13irreversable12irreversbile12irreversibble13
Misspelling Variants of "irreversible"

Frequency rank: #20,144 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "irreversible"?
"irreversible" is spelled I-R-R-E-V-E-R-S-I-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/.
What does "irreversible" mean?
As an adj, "irreversible" means: Incapable of being reversed or turned about or back; incapable of being made to run backwards.
What are common misspellings of "irreversible"?
Common misspellings include "irerversible", "ireversible", "irreevrsible", "irreverisble", "irreverrsible". The correct spelling is "irreversible".
How do you pronounce "irreversible"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "irreversible" is /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "irreversible"?
From ir- + reversible. 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index:

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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.