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abracadabra

ab·ra·ca·dab·ra/ˌæbɹəkəˈdæbɹə/noun, interjection

abracadabra is spelled A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A: 11 letters and 5 syllables (ab·ra·ca·dab·ra). It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, abracadabra means “A use of the mystical term ‘abracadabra’, supposed to work as part of a healing charm or a magical spell; any spell or incantation making use of the…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of abracadabra is abracadabras.

How many letters and syllables are in abracadabra?

Letters11: A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A
Syllables5: ab·ra·ca·dab·ra
In writingabout once in every 6 million words; the 75,877th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 abracadabra?

Abracadabra appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th 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 abracadabra?

  • /ˌæbɹəkəˈdæbɹə/

Abracadabra has 5 syllables, split ab·ra·ca·dab·ra in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-abracadabra.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of abracadabra

  • abracadabras plural
  • abra-cadabra

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does abracadabra mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A use of the mystical term ‘abracadabra’, supposed to work as part of a healing charm or a magical spell; any spell or incantation making use of the word.

  2. 2

    Arcane and obscure language of occult rituals or mystical practices.

  3. 3

    Mumbo jumbo; obscure language or technicalities; jargon.

    I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used to indicate that a magic trick or other illusion has been performed.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Abracadabra in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanSimsalabim (use of term abracadabra), abrakadabra (used to indicate that a magic trick or other…)
Frenchabracadabra (used to indicate that a magic trick or other…)
Portugueseabracadabra (used to indicate that a magic trick or other…)
Spanishabracadabra (used to indicate that a magic trick or other…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does abracadabra come from?

Learned borrowing from Late Latin abracadabra.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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