prehensile
/pɹɪˈhɛn.saɪl/
"prehensile" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prehensile” is uncommon English (frequency #83,641 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,641
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Able to take hold of and clasp objects; adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prehensile |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pɹɪˈhɛn.saɪl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #83,641 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prehensile” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
prehensile is uncommon English at frequency #83,641 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /pɹɪˈhɛn.saɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Able to take hold of and clasp objects; adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object.".
prehensile has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French préhensile, from Latin perfect passive participle prehēnsus, from prehendō (“grasp, seize”) + adjective suffix -ile, from Latin -ilis. The correct English form is prehensile, spelled P-R-E-H-E-N-S-I-L-E.
Definition
- 1Able to take hold of and clasp objects; adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object.
Etymology
Borrowed from French préhensile, from Latin perfect passive participle prehēnsus, from prehendō (“grasp, seize”) + adjective suffix -ile, from Latin -ilis.
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 “prehensile”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-H-E-N-S-I-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹɪˈhɛn.saɪl/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this 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.