ultramarine
/ˌʌltɹəməˈɹiːn/
"ultramarine" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ultramarine” is uncommon English (frequency #71,996 among 23,789 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,996
- frequency rank, English
- 23,789
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Beyond the sea.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ultramarine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌʌltɹəməˈɹiːn/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #71,996 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ultramarine” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ultramarine is uncommon English at frequency #71,996 among 23,789 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌʌltɹəməˈɹiːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ultramarine doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin ultrāmarīnus, from Latin ultrā (“beyond”) + marīnus (“of or relating to the sea, marine”). By surface analysis, ultra + marine. Noun sense 1 (“pigment”) refers to the fact that lapis lazuli was obtained from foreign countries an… The correct English form is ultramarine, spelled U-L-T-R-A-M-A-R-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Beyond the sea.
- 2Of a brilliant dark blue or slightly purplish color like that of the pigment (noun sense 1).
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin ultrāmarīnus, from Latin ultrā (“beyond”) + marīnus (“of or relating to the sea, marine”). By surface analysis, ultra + marine. Noun sense 1 (“pigment”) refers to the fact that lapis lazuli was obtained from foreign countries and hence “beyond the sea”.
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 “ultramarine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is U-L-T-R-A-M-A-R-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌʌltɹəməˈɹiːn/ (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.