orthogonal
/ɔɹˈθɑ.ɡə.nəl/adjective, noun
orthogonal is spelled O-R-T-H-O-G-O-N-A-L: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, orthogonal means “Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in orthogonal?
| Letters | 10: O-R-T-H-O-G-O-N-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 orthogonal?
Orthogonal appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th 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 orthogonal?
- UK /ɔːˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl/
- US /ɔɹˈθɑ.ɡə.nəl/
- Canada /ɔɹˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl/
Orthogonal has 4 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: En-us-orthogonal.ogg, En-au-orthogonal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of orthogonal
- orthagonal
- orthogonals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does orthogonal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.
A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.
- 2
Of a pair of vectors: having a zero inner product; perpendicular.
The normal vector and tangent vector at a given point are orthogonal.
- 3
Of a square matrix: such that its transpose is equal to its inverse.
- 4
Of a linear transformation: preserving its angles.
- 5
Of grid graphs, board games and polyominoes: vertical or horizontal but not diagonal.
- 6
Of a pair of elements in an ortholattice: each less than or equal to the orthocomplement of the other.
- 7
Statistically independent, with reference to variates.
- 8
Of two or more aspects of a problem, able to be treated separately; of a design, exhibiting consistency and composability.
The content of the message should be orthogonal to the means of its delivery.
noun
- 1
An orthogonal line.
All of the orthogonals in this painting display an understanding of linear perspective.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Orthogonal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | orthogonal , indépendant |
| German | rechtwinklig , senkrecht, orthogonal |
| Portuguese | ortogonal, perpendicular |
| Spanish | ortogonal , independiente |
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 orthogonal come from?
From Middle French orthogonal, in turn from Medieval Latin orthogōnālis and Latin orthogōnius (“right-angled”), ultimately from Ancient Greek ὀρθογώνιος (orthogṓnios, “rectangular”). By surface analysis, ortho- + -gon + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).