recalcitrant
/ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/
"recalcitrant" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“recalcitrant” is an uncommon English word, ranked #50,183 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #50,183
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | recalcitrant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #50,183 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “recalcitrant” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for recalcitrant is 12 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #50,183 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
recalcitrant has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s. The correct English form is recalcitrant, spelled R-E-C-A-L-C-I-T-R-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.
- 2Unwilling to cooperate socially.
- 3Difficult to deal with or to operate.
- 4Not viable for an extended period; damaged by drying or freezing.
Etymology
Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.
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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Using “recalcitrant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-A-L-C-I-T-R-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.