peripatetic
/ˌpɛɹ.ɪ.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/
"peripatetic" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“peripatetic” is uncommon English (frequency #66,190 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,190
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tending to walk about.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | peripatetic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌpɛɹ.ɪ.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #66,190 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “peripatetic” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
peripatetic is uncommon English at frequency #66,190 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌpɛɹ.ɪ.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for peripatetic, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French péripatétique, from Latin peripatēticus, from Ancient Greek περιπατητικός (peripatētikós, “given to walking around”), from περιπατέω (peripatéō, “I walk around”), from περί (perí, “around”) (English peri-)+ πατέω (patéō, “I walk”). The correct English form is peripatetic, spelled P-E-R-I-P-A-T-E-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Tending to walk about.
- 2Constantly travelling.
- 3Alternative letter-case form of Peripatetic.
Etymology
From French péripatétique, from Latin peripatēticus, from Ancient Greek περιπατητικός (peripatētikós, “given to walking around”), from περιπατέω (peripatéō, “I walk around”), from περί (perí, “around”) (English peri-)+ πατέω (patéō, “I walk”).
This word in other languages
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 “peripatetic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-I-P-A-T-E-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌpɛɹ.ɪ.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.