tutelary
/ˈtjuːtɪləɹɪ/
"tutelary" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tutelary” is uncommon English (frequency #99,966 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #99,966
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Relating to guardianship or protection.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tutelary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtjuːtɪləɹɪ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #99,966 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tutelary” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tutelary is uncommon English at frequency #99,966 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈtjuːtɪləɹɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tutelary, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin tūtēlārius (“guardian”), from tūtēla (“tutelage, guardianship; dependent, client”) + -ārius (suffix denoting an agent of use); analysable as tutelar + -ary. The correct English form is tutelary, spelled T-U-T-E-L-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Relating to guardianship or protection.
- 2Of or pertaining to a guardian.
- 3Having the qualities of a tutor.
Etymology
From Latin tūtēlārius (“guardian”), from tūtēla (“tutelage, guardianship; dependent, client”) + -ārius (suffix denoting an agent of use); analysable as tutelar + -ary.
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); 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 “tutelary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-T-E-L-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtjuːtɪləɹɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.