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wikipedia

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "wikipedia", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "wikipedia" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "wikipedia" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Wikipedia is aEnglishname. It means: A free-content, multilingual, online encyclopedia and wiki run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Pronounced /ˌwɪ.kɪˈpiːdɪə/. It ranks #8,106 in English word frequency.

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Key facts for Wikipedia
PropertyValue
HeadwordWikipedia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ˌwɪ.kɪˈpiːdɪə/
Letters9
Frequency rank#8,106
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Wikipedia in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Wikipedia is 9 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌwɪ.kɪˈpiːdɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,106 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for Wikipedia, with forms such as "iwkipedia", "wiikpedia", and "wikiepdia". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Polynesian *witi Hawaiian wiki Hawaiian wikiwikider. English wiki ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- Proto-Indo-Euro… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is Wikipedia, spelled W-I-K-I-P-E-D-I-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A free-content, multilingual, online encyclopedia and wiki run by the Wikimedia Foundation.
  2. 2
    The community that develops Wikipedia.
  3. 3
    A main-belt asteroid (No. 274301).

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Polynesian *witi Hawaiian wiki Hawaiian wikiwikider. English wiki ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios) Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλῐος (enkúklĭos) Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-der. Proto-Hellenic *pā́wits Ancient Greek παῖς (paîs) Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús) Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō) Ancient Greek παιδεύω (paideúō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) Ancient Greek παιδείᾱ (paideíā) Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā)bor. New Latin encyclopaedīalbor. English encyclopedia blend English Wikipedia Blend of wiki + encyclopedia, coined by Larry Sanger in 2001. By surface analysis, wiki + -pedia.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: iwkipedia,wiikpedia,wikiepdia,wikipdeia,wikipedai,wikipeddia,wikipeida,wikippedia,wikkipedia,wikpiedia,wkiipedia,wwikipedia

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Wikipedia

Misspelling Variants of "Wikipedia"

iwkipedia9wiikpedia9wikiepdia9wikipdeia9wikipedai9wikipeddia10wikipeida9wikippedia10
Misspelling Variants of "Wikipedia"

Frequency rank: #8,106 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Wikipedia"?
"Wikipedia" is spelled W-I-K-I-P-E-D-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌwɪ.kɪˈpiːdɪə/.
What does "Wikipedia" mean?
As a name, "Wikipedia" means: A free-content, multilingual, online encyclopedia and wiki run by the Wikimedia Foundation.
What are common misspellings of "Wikipedia"?
Common misspellings include "iwkipedia", "wiikpedia", "wikiepdia", "wikipdeia", "wikipedai". The correct spelling is "Wikipedia".
How do you pronounce "Wikipedia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Wikipedia" is /ˌwɪ.kɪˈpiːdɪə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Wikipedia"?
Etymology tree Proto-Polynesian *witi Hawaiian wiki Hawaiian wikiwikider. English wiki ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- Proto... 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.