rational
/ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/adjective, noun
rational is spelled R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, rational means “Capable of reasoning” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in rational?
| Letters | 8: R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,456th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is rational?
Rational appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th 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 rational?
- /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/
Rational has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-rational.ogg, En-au-rational.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with rational?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as rational.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: notarial.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of rational
- more rational comparative
- most rational superlative
- rationals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does rational mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Capable of reasoning.
Man is a rational creature.
- 2
Behaving according to some partial order of preferences.
- 3
Logically sound; not self-contradictory or otherwise absurd.
His statements were quite rational.
- 4
Healthy or balanced intellectually; exhibiting reasonableness.
rational conduct
- 5
Of a number, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two integers.
¾ is a rational number, but √2 is an irrational number.
- 6
Of an algebraic expression in indeterminates, or more generally a function: capable of being expressed as the ratio of two polynomials.
- 7
Of a variety: (informally) geometrically simple almost everywhere; (formally) birationally equivalent to projective space
- 8
Of a function between varieties: acting as a morphism on an open subset of its domain.
noun
- 1
A rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.
The quotient of two rationals is again a rational.
- 2
The breastplate worn by Israelite high priests.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Rational in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rationnel, rationnelle , raisonnable |
| German | vernünftig, sinnvoll, rational |
| Portuguese | racional |
| Spanish | racional , razonable |
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 rational come from?
From Old French rationel, rational, from Latin rationalis (“of or belonging to reason, rational, reasonable; having a ratio”), from ratio (“reason; calculation”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).