pulchritude

/pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd/

//pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd// noun

"pulchritude" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Physical beauty.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pulchritude · pulchritude · English

pulchritude · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 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 pulchritude
PropertyValue
Headwordpulchritude
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd/
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pulchritude” in English

pulchritudefalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

pulchritude is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Physical beauty.".

pulchritude has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pulcritude, from Latin pulchritūdō, from pulcher (“beautiful”). The correct English form is pulchritude, spelled P-U-L-C-H-R-I-T-U-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Physical beauty.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 1978, Charles D. Benson and William Barnaby Faherty, Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations, NASA Special Publication 4204, 1978, ch. 4 https://web.archive.org/web/20061020074600/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4204/ch4-8.html One participant recalls arriving at his Cocoa Beach motel on a Saturday evening with the Miss…
  2. Do you know why a woman of such pulchritude is married to me? 'Cause I make a comfortable living.

Etymology

From Middle English pulcritude, from Latin pulchritūdō, from pulcher (“beautiful”).

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 "pulchritude"?
"pulchritude" is spelled P-U-L-C-H-R-I-T-U-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is /pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd/.
What does "pulchritude" mean?
As a noun, "pulchritude" means: Physical beauty.
How do you pronounce "pulchritude"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pulchritude" is /pʌlkrə.t(j)uːd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "pulchritude"?
From Middle English pulcritude, from Latin pulchritūdō, from pulcher (“beautiful”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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