rutilant
/ˈɹuːtɪl(ə)nt/
"rutilant" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rutilant” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Shining or glowing with a red colour or light.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rutilant · rutilant · English
rutilant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rutilant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɹuːtɪl(ə)nt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rutilant” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rutilant is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈɹuːtɪl(ə)nt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Shining or glowing with a red colour or light.".
rutilant doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English rutilaunt (“shining with a gold or red colour”), from rutilāns (“reddening”), an adjective use of the present participle of rutilō (“to redden”) (from rutilus (“(yellowish) red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”)). The Eng… The correct English form is rutilant, spelled R-U-T-I-L-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Shining or glowing with a red colour or light.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rutilant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[S]tately Hyperion or the lordly ſonne, the moſt rutilant planet of the ſeuẽ, in Lent when Heralius herring enters into his chiefe reign and ſcepterdome, ſkippeth and danſeth[,] the goats iumpe on the earth for ioy of his entrance.
[T]he colour of a Comet ſignifies the Nature of the Ruling Planet. This was of a Fiery Red, but mixed with a dusky Silver colour, which made it look but dim in appearance, (unleſs in clear Nights before the Moon was up, for then it look'd more Rutilant:) and therefore it was likewiſe in this reſpect of the Nature of Mars and Mercury, [...]
Etymology
From Late Middle English rutilaunt (“shining with a gold or red colour”), from rutilāns (“reddening”), an adjective use of the present participle of rutilō (“to redden”) (from rutilus (“(yellowish) red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”)). The English word is cognate with Italian rutilante, Portuguese rutilante, Spanish rutilante.
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.