retardant
"retardant" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“retardant” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #45,048. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #45,048
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Serving to impede (slow down) the action of something
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | retardant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #45,048 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retardant” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 14 spelling variants around retardant, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #45,048 among 21,470 “R” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Serving to impede (slow down) the action of something".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for retardant, with forms such as "ertardant", "reatrdant", and "retadrant". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French retardant, equivalent to retard (“to slow down”) + -ant. The correct English form is retardant, spelled R-E-T-A-R-D-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Serving to impede (slow down) the action of something
Etymology
Borrowed from French retardant, equivalent to retard (“to slow down”) + -ant.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ertardant
- reatrdant
- retadrant
- retaradnt
- retardannt
- retardantt
- retardatn
- retarddant
- retardnat
- retarrdant
- retradant
- rettardant
- rretardant
- rteardant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retardant - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “retardant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-T-A-R-D-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.