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palestine

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

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "palestine", 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 "palestine" 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 "palestine" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Palestine is aEnglishname. It means: A country in Western Asia, in the Middle East; the State of Palestine; the homeland of the Palestinian people. Pronounced /ˈpæləˌstaɪn/. It ranks #7,259 in English word frequency. Often confused with palatine.

Key facts for Palestine
PropertyValue
HeadwordPalestine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ˈpæləˌstaɪn/
Letters9
Frequency rank#7,259
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Palestine is 9 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpæləˌstaɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,259 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 23 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 Palestine, with forms such as "aplestine", "paelstine", and "palesitne". 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 also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "palatine", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English Palestyne, from Old English Palestina, from Latin Palaestīna (“Roman province of Palestine”), from Ancient Greek Παλαιστίνη (Palaistínē, “Philistia and the surrounding region”), from Hebrew פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia, land of the Ph… 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 Palestine, spelled P-A-L-E-S-T-I-N-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A country in Western Asia, in the Middle East; the State of Palestine; the homeland of the Palestinian people.
  2. 2
    A country in Western Asia, in the Middle East; the State of Palestine; the homeland of the Palestinian people.
  3. 3
    The region in Western Asia in the Middle East between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
  4. 4
    A British colonial entity administering approximately the lands mentioned in definition 1.
  5. 5
    The British League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, of which this region was a part (the remainder being Transjordan, which covered approximately the lands of the modern Kingdom (originally Emirate) of Jordan).
  6. 6
    Any of four Ancient Roman and Byzantine provinces in the eastern Mediterranean: Syria Palaestina, Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Salutaris.
  7. 7
    The Biblical Land of Israel, roughly corresponding to the northern part of modern-day Israel proper, the West Bank, and northwest Jordan.
  8. 8
    Philistia, a region in the Levant inhabited by the ancient Philistines.
  9. 9
    A number of places in the United States:
  10. 10
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    A number of places in the United States:
  22. 22
    A community in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada.
  23. 23
    A village in Over Wallop parish, Test Valley district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU2640).

Etymology

From Middle English Palestyne, from Old English Palestina, from Latin Palaestīna (“Roman province of Palestine”), from Ancient Greek Παλαιστίνη (Palaistínē, “Philistia and the surrounding region”), from Hebrew פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia, land of the Philistines”). The term P-l-s-t or P-r-s-t, found in five Ancient Egyptian inscriptions (beginning with one at Medinet Habu from circa 1170 BCE and ending with Padiiset's Statue inscription from circa 900-850 BCE) as the name of a people near Egypt, is traditionally taken to be cognate. Seven Assyrian inscriptions contain the word "Palas(h)tu" or "Pilistu", which is usually also taken to be cognate.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: aplestine,paelstine,palesitne,palesstine,palestien,palestinne,palestnie,palesttine,paletsine,pallestine,palsetine,plaestine,ppalestine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Palestine

Misspelling Variants of "Palestine"

aplestine9paelstine9palesitne9palesstine10palestien9palestinne10palestnie9palesttine10
Misspelling Variants of "Palestine"

Frequency rank: #7,259 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Palestine"?
"Palestine" is spelled P-A-L-E-S-T-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpæləˌstaɪn/.
What does "Palestine" mean?
As a name, "Palestine" means: A country in Western Asia, in the Middle East; the State of Palestine; the homeland of the Palestinian people.
What words are commonly confused with "Palestine"?
"Palestine" is commonly confused with "palatine". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Palestine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Palestine" is /ˈpæləˌstaɪn/. 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 "Palestine"?
From Middle English Palestyne, from Old English Palestina, from Latin Palaestīna (“Roman province of Palestine”), from Ancient Greek Παλαιστίνη (Palaistínē, “Philistia and the surrounding region”), from Hebrew פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia, land... 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 P 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.