thanatopsis
/θænəˈtɒpsɪs/noun
thanatopsis is spelled T-H-A-N-A-T-O-P-S-I-S: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 98 million words in written English, the 317,168th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, thanatopsis means “Contemplation of death” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of thanatopsis is thanatopses.
How many letters and syllables are in thanatopsis?
| Letters | 11: T-H-A-N-A-T-O-P-S-I-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 98 million words; the 317,168th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is thanatopsis?
Thanatopsis appears about once in every 98 million words in written English, the 317,168th 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 thanatopsis?
- /θænəˈtɒpsɪs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of thanatopsis
- thanatopses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does thanatopsis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Contemplation of death.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does thanatopsis come from?
From Ancient Greek θάνατος (thánatos, “death”) + ὄψις (ópsis, “seeing”), via the poem "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant. Although a surface analysis of thanato- + -opsis readily suggests itself and might invite a semantic expectation of deathliness, Bryant's sense of the word corresponds to "the seeing of death" rather than "the appearance/likeness of death".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).