prime time

noun

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

The verdict

“prime time” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The block of programming on television during the middle of the evening, usually between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.

Corpus desk

Index EN-prime-time · prime time · English

prime time · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for prime time
PropertyValue
Headwordprime time
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “prime time” in English

prime timesits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

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

Rare enough to double-check

prime time is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for prime time in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is prime time, spelled P-R-I-M-E- -T-I-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The block of programming on television during the middle of the evening, usually between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
  2. 2
    The busiest or most important period.
  3. 3
    Maturity; the state at which a person or product will be accepted by the mainstream.
  4. 4
    Spring.
  5. 5
    A new period or time of youthfulness; the beginning of something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how prime time appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Mass-produced mithai are readily available online, but these five independent shops make their sweets by hand every day, offering their local South Asian communities a taste of the familiar. Diwali is their prime time.
  2. It took years longer than proponents had hoped, but wireless data is ready for prime time.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prime time"?
"prime time" is spelled P-R-I-M-E- -T-I-M-E.
What does "prime time" mean?
As a noun, "prime time" means: The block of programming on television during the middle of the evening, usually between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
What language does "prime time" come from?
"prime time" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list