preimage

noun

"preimage" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“preimage” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - For a given function, the set of all elements of the domain that are mapped into a given subset of the codomain; (formally) given a function ƒ : X → Y and a subset B ⊆ Y, the set ƒ⁻¹(B) = {x ∈ X : ...

Corpus desk

Index EN-preimage · preimage · English

preimage · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for preimage
PropertyValue
Headwordpreimage
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “preimage” in English

preimageranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

preimage is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "For a given function, the set of all elements of the domain that are mapped into a given subset of the codomain; (formally) given a function ƒ : X → Y and a subset B ⊆ Y, the set ƒ⁻¹(B) = {x ∈ X : ...".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for preimage, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From pre- + image. The correct English form is preimage, spelled P-R-E-I-M-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    For a given function, the set of all elements of the domain that are mapped into a given subset of the codomain; (formally) given a function ƒ : X → Y and a subset B ⊆ Y, the set ƒ⁻¹(B) = {x ∈ X : ƒ(x) ∈ B}.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how preimage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The preimage of #92;#123;4,9#92;#125; under the function f#58;#92;R#92;rightarrow#92;R#58;f(x)#61;x² is the set #92;#123;-3,-2,#43;2,#43;3#92;#125;.
  2. 1967 [Academic Press], Francois Treves, Topological Vector Spaces, Distributions and Kernels, 2006, Dover, page 22, The preimage of a neighborhood U of 0 in E must be a neighborhood of (0,x), since (0,x) is mapped into 0.

Etymology

From pre- + image.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "preimage"?
"preimage" is spelled P-R-E-I-M-A-G-E.
What does "preimage" mean?
As a noun, "preimage" means: For a given function, the set of all elements of the domain that are mapped into a given subset of the codomain; (formally) given a function ƒ : X → Y and a subset B ⊆ Y, the set ƒ⁻¹(B) = {x ∈ X : ...
What is the origin of the word "preimage"?
From pre- + image. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list