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longitude

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

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "longitude", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "longitude" 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 "longitude" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

longitude is aEnglishnoun. It means: Angular distance measured west or east of the prime meridian. Pronounced /ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtʃuːd/.

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Key facts for longitude
PropertyValue
Headwordlongitude
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtʃuːd/
Letters9
Frequency rank#20,695
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for longitude is 9 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtʃuːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,695 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 Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for longitude, with forms such as "llongitude", "lnogitude", and "lognitude". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, 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 Middle English, borrowed from Old French longitude, from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”). 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 longitude, spelled L-O-N-G-I-T-U-D-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Angular distance measured west or east of the prime meridian.
  2. 2
    Any imaginary line perpendicular to the equator and part of a great circle passing through the North Pole and South Pole.
  3. 3
    Length.

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French longitude, from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: llongitude,lnogitude,lognitude,longgitude,longitdue,longittude,longitudde,longitued,longiutde,longtiude,lonigtude,lonngitude,olngitude

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for longitude

Misspelling Variants of "longitude"

llongitude10lnogitude9lognitude9longgitude10longitdue9longittude10longitudde10longitued9
Misspelling Variants of "longitude"

Frequency rank: #20,695 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "longitude"?
"longitude" is spelled L-O-N-G-I-T-U-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtʃuːd/.
What does "longitude" mean?
As a noun, "longitude" means: Angular distance measured west or east of the prime meridian.
What are common misspellings of "longitude"?
Common misspellings include "llongitude", "lnogitude", "lognitude", "longgitude", "longitdue". The correct spelling is "longitude".
How do you pronounce "longitude"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "longitude" is /ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtʃuːd/. 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 "longitude"?
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French longitude, from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”). 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 L in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.