Ptolemaic
/ˌtɒl.əˈmeɪ.ɪk/
"ptolemaic" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Ptolemaic” is uncommon English (frequency #64,637 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,637
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or pertaining to the Ptolemy dynasty of pharaohs, the Ptolemies, rulers of Hellenistic Egypt.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ptolemaic · Ptolemaic · English
Ptolemaic · rank #64,637 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,637
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH prudently
Nearest frequency peer: prudently (-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 “Ptolemaic”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- prn
prn
35,368 corpus weight
- prudently
prudently
35,365 corpus weight
- Ptolemaic
Ptolemaic
35,364 corpus weight
- pummel
pummel
35,363 corpus weight
- pyroclastic
pyroclastic
35,360 corpus weight
- Qiao
Qiao
35,358 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Ptolemaic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Ptolemaic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌtɒl.əˈmeɪ.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #64,637 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Ptolemaic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Ptolemaic is uncommon English at frequency #64,637 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌtɒl.əˈmeɪ.ɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Ptolemaic has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Via Latin Ptolemāicus from Koine Greek Πτολεμᾱϊκός (Ptolemāïkós) from Πτολεμαῖος (Ptolemaîos), a proper name derived from Epic Greek πτόλεμος (ptólemos), variant of Ancient Greek πόλεμος (pólemos, “battle, war”); equivalent to Ptolemy + -ic. The correct English form is Ptolemaic, spelled P-T-O-L-E-M-A-I-C.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to the Ptolemy dynasty of pharaohs, the Ptolemies, rulers of Hellenistic Egypt.
- 2Of or pertaining to the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy.
Etymology
Via Latin Ptolemāicus from Koine Greek Πτολεμᾱϊκός (Ptolemāïkós) from Πτολεμαῖος (Ptolemaîos), a proper name derived from Epic Greek πτόλεμος (ptólemos), variant of Ancient Greek πόλεμος (pólemos, “battle, war”); equivalent to Ptolemy + -ic.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Ptolemaic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).