phatic
/ˈfætɪk/adjective, noun
phatic is spelled P-H-A-T-I-C: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 76 million words in written English, the 275,970th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, phatic means “Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in phatic?
| Letters | 6: P-H-A-T-I-C |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 76 million words; the 275,970th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is phatic?
Phatic appears about once in every 76 million words in written English, the 275,970th 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 phatic?
- /ˈfætɪk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-phatic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with phatic?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as phatic.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: haptic, pathic.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of phatic
- more phatic comparative
- most phatic superlative
- phatics plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does phatic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent.
You needn't be angry about the insincerity of shopkeepers' how-are-you greetings. Well-adjusted people understand that the question is phatic in the context and that that's usually no problem.
noun
- 1
A phatic utterance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Phatic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship:
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 phatic come from?
From Ancient Greek φατός (phatós, “spoken”) - from φημί (phēmí, “I say”) - + -ic. Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).