abseil
/ˈæb.seɪl/verb, noun
abseil is spelled A-B-S-E-I-L. The wrong spelling people search most is absail: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Abseil is a verb meaning “To descend a steep or vertical drop using a rope with a mechanical friction device or (classic abseil) by…”.
How many letters and syllables are in abseil?
| Letters | 6: A-B-S-E-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, absail, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell abseil?
Abseil is spelled A-B-S-E-I-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 14 of the searches for abseil in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is abseil?
Abseil appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th 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 abseil?
- UK /ˈæb.seɪl/
- UK /ˈæb.saɪl/
- US /ˈæb.seɪl/
Abseil has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-abseil.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of abseil
- abseils present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- abseiling participle, present
- abseiled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does abseil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To descend a steep or vertical drop using a rope with a mechanical friction device or (classic abseil) by wrapping the rope around the body.
noun
- 1
A descent in mountaineering using a rope looped at the top and a friction device.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Abseil in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 abseil come from?
From German abseilen, from ab- (“down”) + Seil (“rope”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).