symbolist

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"symbolist" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“symbolist” is uncommon English (frequency #81,886 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,886
frequency rank, English
54,294
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature

Key facts for symbolist
PropertyValue
Headwordsymbolist
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Frequency rank#81,886
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “symbolist” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). symbolist lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

symbolist is uncommon English at frequency #81,886 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature".

symbolist doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French symboliste, coined by French poet Paul Verlaine in 1885. The correct English form is symbolist, spelled S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature

Etymology

From French symboliste, coined by French poet Paul Verlaine in 1885.

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

How do you spell "symbolist"?
"symbolist" is spelled S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-S-T.
What does "symbolist" mean?
As an adjective, "symbolist" means: Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature
What is the origin of the word "symbolist"?
From French symboliste, coined by French poet Paul Verlaine in 1885. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “symbolist”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list