specific
spe·cif·ic/spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/adjective, noun
specific is spelled S-P-E-C-I-F-I-C, 3 syllables: spe·cif·ic. The wrong spelling people search most is specfic: about 140 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 27 of all searches for the word. Specific is an adjective meaning “Explicit or definite”.
How many letters and syllables are in specific?
| Letters | 8: S-P-E-C-I-F-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: spe·cif·ic |
| In writing | 107 times per million words; the 996th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, specfic, about 140 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell specific?
Specific is spelled S-P-E-C-I-F-I-C. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 15 of the searches for specific in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is specific?
Specific appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th 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 specific?
- UK /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
- US /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
- US /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/
Specific has 3 syllables, split spe·cif·ic in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-specific.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with specific?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as specific from its last stressed vowel (/ɪfɪk/):
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 specific
- more specific comparative
- most specific superlative
- specifics plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does specific mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Explicit or definite.
- 2
Pertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.
Holonyms: generic, familial
- 3
Special, distinctive or unique.
- 4
intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
- 5
Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.
a highly specific test
- 6
Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms.
Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
- 7
Limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
- 8
Of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy).
noun
- 1
A distinguishing attribute or quality.
- 2
A remedy for a specific disease or condition.
- 3
Specification.
- 4
The details; particulars.
- 5
The distinguishing part of a toponym.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Specific in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | spezifisch , Spezifik, Spezifikum, Besonderheit |
| Portuguese | específico |
| Spanish | específico , especificidades |
| French | spécifique |
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 specific come from?
From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + -ific.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).