prate
/pɹeɪt/
"prate" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prate” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɹeɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for prate is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹeɪt/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity.".
prate doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon *pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic *prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, dece… The correct English form is prate, spelled P-R-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity.
Etymology
From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon *pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic *prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, deceit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bred- (“to wander, rove”). Related to Dutch praten (“to talk, chat”), Low German praten, dated German pfrassen, Danish prate, Swedish prata (“to talk, prate”), Faroese práta (“to talk, gossip”), Icelandic prata;; also cognate with Polish bredzić (“to rave, jabber”), Latvian bradāt (“to talk nonsense”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “prate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹeɪt/ (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.