aerial
/ˈɛəɹiəl/adjective, noun
aerial is spelled A-E-R-I-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is aeriel: about 240 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 23 of all searches for the word. Aerial is an adjective meaning “Living or taking place in the air”.
How many letters and syllables are in aerial?
| Letters | 6: A-E-R-I-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.1 times per million words; the 8,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, aeriel, about 240 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell aerial?
Aerial is spelled A-E-R-I-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 23 of the searches for aerial 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 aerial?
Aerial appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th 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 aerial?
- UK /ˈɛəɹiəl/
- British /ˈɛːɹɪjəl/
- /ˈɛəɹiəl/
Aerial has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-aerial.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with aerial
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with aerial?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as aerial from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹiəl/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: realia.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of aerial
- more aerial comparative
- most aerial superlative
- aerials plural
- more aërial comparative
- most aërial superlative
- aërials plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does aerial mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Living or taking place in the air.
The seabirds put on an astonishing aerial display.
- 2
archaicMade up of air or gas; gaseous.
- 3
Positioned high up; elevated.
The aerial photographs clearly showed the damage caused by the storm.
- 4
Ethereal, insubstantial; imaginary.
- 5
Pertaining to the air or atmosphere; atmospheric.
- 6
Pertaining to a vehicle which travels through the air; airborne; relating to or conducted by means of aircraft.
aerial photography
- 7
Above the ground.
noun
- 1
UKA rod, wire, or other structure for receiving or transmitting radio, television signals etc.
- 2
A move, as in dancing or skateboarding, involving one or both feet leaving the ground.
- 3
A move that involves performing a full rotation while in the air, without touching any equipment such as a balance beam or panel mat with one's hands.
- 4
An aerial photograph.
- 5
A highly-contrasting visual artifact in the form of a band or ring.
Lanczos3 for sharp results. May produce aerials. – Krita 5.2.2
adjective
- 1
datedDated form of aerial.
noun
- 1
datedDated form of aerial.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Aerial in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | aérien , antenne |
| German | Luft- , Antenne |
| Portuguese | aéreo , antena , etéreo |
| Spanish | aéreo , antena |
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 aerial come from?
From Latin āeri(us) + -al, from Ancient Greek ἀέριος (aérios), from ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) + -ιος (-ios).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).