premortem

adj

"premortem" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Before death.

Key facts for premortem
PropertyValue
Headwordpremortem
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “premortem” sits in English frequency

premortem falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

premortem is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Before death.".

premortem doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From pre- (“before”) + Latin mortem (accusative singular of mors (“death”)), after post mortem. The correct English form is premortem, spelled P-R-E-M-O-R-T-E-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Before death.

Etymology

From pre- (“before”) + Latin mortem (accusative singular of mors (“death”)), after post mortem.

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 "premortem"?
"premortem" is spelled P-R-E-M-O-R-T-E-M.
What does "premortem" mean?
As an adjective, "premortem" means: Before death.
What is the origin of the word "premortem"?
From pre- (“before”) + Latin mortem (accusative singular of mors (“death”)), after post mortem. 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.

Using “premortem”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-M-O-R-T-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list