precise
pre·cise/pɹɪˈsaɪs/adjective, verb
precise is spelled P-R-E-C-I-S-E, 2 syllables: pre·cise. The wrong spelling people search most is precice: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 65 of all searches for the word. Precise is an adjective meaning “Both exact and accurate”.
How many letters and syllables are in precise?
| Letters | 7: P-R-E-C-I-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pre·cise |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, precice, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell precise?
Precise is spelled P-R-E-C-I-S-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 65 of the searches for precise in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is precise?
Precise appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th 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 precise?
- /pɹɪˈsaɪs/
Precise has 2 syllables, split pre·cise in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-precise.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of precise
- more precise comparative
- preciser comparative
- most precise superlative
- precisest superlative
- precises present, singular, he/she/it
- precising participle, present
- precised participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does precise mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Both exact and accurate.
precise definition
- 2
Consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other (this does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value).
- 3
Adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious.
verb
- 1
nonstandardTo make or render precise; to specify.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Precise in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | précis , préciser |
| German | präzise, genau , präzisieren , exakt |
| Portuguese | preciso |
| Spanish | preciso , precisar, pormenorizar |
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 precise come from?
From Middle French précis, from Latin praecīsus, perfect passive participle of praecīdere, from prae- (“before, in front”) + caedere (“cut; strike”), cognate with hit. Related to incise. Doublet of précis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).