princeps
/ˈprɪn.sɛps/
"princeps" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“princeps” is uncommon English (frequency #78,958 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,958
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The title of the Roman emperor during the principate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-princeps · princeps · English
princeps · rank #78,958 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,958
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH primogeniture
Nearest frequency peer: primogeniture (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “princeps”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- preen
preen
21,047 corpus weight
- presupposit…
presupposition
21,046 corpus weight
- primogenitu…
primogeniture
21,044 corpus weight
- princeps
princeps
21,043 corpus weight
- Priti
Priti
21,042 corpus weight
- privation
privation
21,041 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “princeps” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | princeps |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈprɪn.sɛps/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #78,958 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “princeps” in English
Rare enough to double-check
princeps is uncommon English at frequency #78,958 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈprɪn.sɛps/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for princeps in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin prī̆nceps (“first, foremost”). Doublet of prince and principe. The correct English form is princeps, spelled P-R-I-N-C-E-P-S.
Definition
- 1The title of the Roman emperor during the principate.
- 2One who, or that which, is foremost, original, etc.
- 3The editio princeps, or first edition of a book.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how princeps appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Its special characteristics were that the princeps was not governed by any law of procedure or confined to a particular place of judgment and, moreover, had complete freedom in the composition of his consilium.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin prī̆nceps (“first, foremost”). Doublet of prince and principe.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "princeps", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).