preparative
/pɹəˈpæɹətɪv/adjective, noun
preparative is spelled P-R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-V-E: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, preparative means “That serves to prepare something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in preparative?
| Letters | 11: P-R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 134,976th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is preparative?
Preparative appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th 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 preparative?
- /pɹəˈpæɹətɪv/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-preparative.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of preparative
- more preparative comparative
- most preparative superlative
- preparatives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does preparative mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That serves to prepare something
preparative chromatography
- 2
preliminary or preparatory
preparative discussions
- 3
Pertaining to the synthesis, purification, or isolation of compounds from mixtures or raw materials.
noun
- 1
Something to be done in preparation; a preliminary
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does preparative come from?
From Middle English preperatif, from Middle French preparatif and Medieval Latin prēparātīvus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).