preternatural
/ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/
"preternatural" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“preternatural” is an uncommon English word, ranked #84,630 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #84,630
- frequency rank, English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | preternatural |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #84,630 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “preternatural” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for preternatural is 13 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/. Corpus data places it at rank #84,630 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for preternatural in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From preter- + natural, after Latin prēternātūrālis/praeternātūrālis, from praeter nātūram, from praeter (“beyond”) + nātūra (“nature”); compare supernatural. The correct English form is preternatural, spelled P-R-E-T-E-R-N-A-T-U-R-A-L.
Definition
- 1Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
- 2Having an existence outside of the natural world.
Etymology
From preter- + natural, after Latin prēternātūrālis/praeternātūrālis, from praeter nātūram, from praeter (“beyond”) + nātūra (“nature”); compare supernatural.
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); 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 “preternatural”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-T-E-R-N-A-T-U-R-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/ (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
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.