ligate
/ˈlɪɡeɪt/
"ligate" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ligate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To bind with a ligature or bandage.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ligate · ligate · English
ligate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ligate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈlɪɡeɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ligate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ligate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈlɪɡeɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for ligate in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin ligātus, perfect passive participle of ligō (“to bind”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of legato. Compare league. The correct English form is ligate, spelled L-I-G-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To bind with a ligature or bandage.
- 2To connect text characters with a ligature.
- 3To join by ligation.
Etymology
First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin ligātus, perfect passive participle of ligō (“to bind”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of legato. Compare league.
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.