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prejudice

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "prejudice", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "prejudice" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "prejudice" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

prejudice is aEnglishnoun. It means: An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts. Pronounced /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/. It ranks #9,797 in English word frequency. Often confused with prejudices.

Key facts for prejudice
PropertyValue
Headwordprejudice
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/
Letters9
Frequency rank#9,797
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of prejudice in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for prejudice is 9 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,797 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for prejudice, with forms such as "perjudice", "pprejudice", and "prejduice". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "prejudices", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prejudice, from Old French prejudice, derived from Latin praeiūdicium (“previous judgment or damage”), from prae- (“before”) + iūdicium (“judgment”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is prejudice, spelled P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts.
  2. 2
    A preconception, any preconceived opinion or feeling, whether positive or negative.
  3. 3
    An irrational hostile attitude, fear or hatred towards a particular group, race or religion.
  4. 4
    Knowledge formed in advance; foresight, presaging.
  5. 5
    Mischief; hurt; damage; injury; detriment.

Etymology

From Middle English prejudice, from Old French prejudice, derived from Latin praeiūdicium (“previous judgment or damage”), from prae- (“before”) + iūdicium (“judgment”).

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: perjudice,pprejudice,prejduice,prejjudice,prejudcie,prejuddice,prejudicce,prejudiec,prejuidce,preujdice,prjeudice,prrejudice,rpejudice

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for prejudice

Misspelling Variants of "prejudice"

perjudice9pprejudice10prejduice9prejjudice10prejudcie9prejuddice10prejudicce10prejudiec9
Misspelling Variants of "prejudice"

Frequency rank: #9,797 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prejudice"?
"prejudice" is spelled P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/.
What does "prejudice" mean?
As a noun, "prejudice" means: An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge of the facts.
What words are commonly confused with "prejudice"?
"prejudice" is commonly confused with "prejudices". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prejudice"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prejudice" is /ˈpɹɛd͡ʒədɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "prejudice"?
From Middle English prejudice, from Old French prejudice, derived from Latin praeiūdicium (“previous judgment or damage”), from prae- (“before”) + iūdicium (“judgment”). 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.