phthalate
/ˈ(f)θa.leɪt/
"phthalate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“phthalate” is uncommon English (frequency #71,791 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,791
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any salt or ester of a phthalic acid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-phthalate · phthalate · English
phthalate · rank #71,791 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,791
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 46,516
- PHOTO-FINISH pfp
Nearest frequency peer: pfp (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “phthalate”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- perse
perse
28,214 corpus weight
- Petronius
Petronius
28,213 corpus weight
- Pfeifer
Pfeifer
28,212 corpus weight
- pfp
pfp
28,211 corpus weight
- phthalate
phthalate
28,210 corpus weight
- pinder
pinder
28,209 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “phthalate” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | phthalate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈ(f)θa.leɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #71,791 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “phthalate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
phthalate is uncommon English at frequency #71,791 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈ(f)θa.leɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any salt or ester of a phthalic acid.".
No misspelling variants are generated for phthalate in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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 phthal(ic) + -ate (“salt or ester”), short for obsolete naphthalic acid, from naphthalene. The correct English form is phthalate, spelled P-H-T-H-A-L-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Any salt or ester of a phthalic acid.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how phthalate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Researchers investigating levels of phthalates in the human body, which have been linked to asthma, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and fertility issues in the past few years, were found to be nearly 35% higher in participants who had eaten out the previous day compared with those who stayed at home.
Even as FDA works to develop that plan, consumers continue to be exposed to unsafe food chemicals including not just dyes but also the artificial sweetener aspartame, the white pigment titanium dioxide, the preservative propylparaben, and the phthalate food packaging chemicals, according to CSPI.
Etymology
From phthal(ic) + -ate (“salt or ester”), short for obsolete naphthalic acid, from naphthalene.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "phthalate", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency 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.