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orbital

/ɔɹ.bət.l̩/adjective, noun

orbital is spelled O-R-B-I-T-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, orbital means “Of or relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in orbital?

Letters7: O-R-B-I-T-A-L
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is orbital?

Orbital appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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 orbital?

  • UK /ɔː.bɪt.əl/
  • UK /ɔː.bɪt.l̩/
  • US /ɔɹ.bət.l̩/

Orbital has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-orbital.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-orbital.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with orbital

Also written: orbital motorway.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of orbital

  • orbitals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does orbital mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft).

  2. 2

    Of or relating to the eye socket (eyehole).

  3. 3

    UK(of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.

    The M25 is an orbital motorway around London.

noun

  1. 1

    A specification of the energy and probability density of one or more electrons at any point in an atom or molecule, representable as a wave function.

  2. 2

    UKEllipsis of orbital motorway.

  3. 3

    Ellipsis of orbital sander.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Orbital in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchorbital (of or relating to an orbit), orbitaire (of or relating to the eye socket), orbitale (energy and probability density)
Germanorbital (of or relating to an orbit), Orbital (energy and probability density)
Portugueseorbital (of or relating to an orbit)
Spanishorbital, orbitario (of or relating to an orbit)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does orbital come from?

Borrowed from Medieval Latin orbitālis, from orbita (“a track or rut; a circuit, orbit”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent to orbit + -al. Doublet of orbitalis.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after orbital