prevalent
pre·v·a·lent/ˈpɹɛvələnt/adjective, noun
prevalent is spelled P-R-E-V-A-L-E-N-T, 4 syllables: pre·v·a·lent. The wrong spelling people search most is prevelant: about 570 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Prevalent is an adjective meaning “Widespread or preferred”.
How many letters and syllables are in prevalent?
| Letters | 9: P-R-E-V-A-L-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: pre·v·a·lent |
| In writing | 6.0 times per million words; the 9,878th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, prevelant, about 570 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell prevalent?
Prevalent is spelled P-R-E-V-A-L-E-N-T. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is prevalent?
Prevalent appears 6.0 times per million words in written English, the 9,878th 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 prevalent?
- US /ˈpɹɛvələnt/
- US /pɹɪˈveɪlənt/
- Australia /ˈpɹevələnt/
Prevalent has 4 syllables, split pre·v·a·lent in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-prevalent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of prevalent
- more prevalent comparative
- most prevalent superlative
- prævalent
- prevailent
- prevalents plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prevalent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Widespread or preferred.
- 2
Superior in frequency or dominant.
noun
- 1
A species that is prevalent in a certain area.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prevalent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | répandu , prévalent |
| German | beherrschend, maßgeblich, vorherrschend, (weit) verbreitet , überwiegend |
| Portuguese | predominante , prevalente |
| Spanish | dominante, mayoritario , prevalente, predominante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does prevalent come from?
From Latin praevalēns. By surface analysis, pre- + -valent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).