pathological
/ˌpæθ.əˈlɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/
"pathological" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pathological” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,152 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #18,152
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pertaining to pathology.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pathological |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌpæθ.əˈlɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #18,152 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pathological” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pathological is 12 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌpæθ.əˈlɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,152 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for pathological, with forms such as "apthological", "pahtological", and "pathhological". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pathology + -ical. The correct English form is pathological, spelled P-A-T-H-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.
Definition
- 1Pertaining to pathology.
- 2Relating to, amounting to, or caused by a physical or mental disorder.
- 3Having properties which are counterintuitive or difficult to handle.
- 4Having properties that cause unusually bad behaviour, especially regarding correctness or performance.
Etymology
From pathology + -ical.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apthological,pahtological,pathhological,pathloogical,patholgoical,pathollogical,pathologcial,pathologgical,pathologiacl,pathologicall,pathologiccal,pathologicla,patholoigcal,pathoolgical,patohlogical,patthological,ppathological,ptahological
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pathological - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pathological”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-T-H-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌpæθ.əˈlɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.