phlegmatic
/flɛɡˈmætɪk/
"phlegmatic" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“phlegmatic” is an uncommon English word, ranked #87,673 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #87,673
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | phlegmatic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /flɛɡˈmætɪk/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #87,673 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “phlegmatic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for phlegmatic is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /flɛɡˈmætɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #87,673 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
phlegmatic doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fleumatik, flewmatik, flematik, fleumatyke, flewmatyk, from Old French fleumatique, from Latin phlegmaticus, from Ancient Greek φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós), from φλέγμα (phlégma). Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Gr… The correct English form is phlegmatic, spelled P-H-L-E-G-M-A-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.
- 2Generating, causing, or full of phlegm.
Etymology
From Middle English fleumatik, flewmatik, flematik, fleumatyke, flewmatyk, from Old French fleumatique, from Latin phlegmaticus, from Ancient Greek φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós), from φλέγμα (phlégma). Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots, with modern pronunciation following this new spelling.
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 “phlegmatic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-H-L-E-G-M-A-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /flɛɡˈmætɪk/ (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.