afterword
/ˈæf.tɚˌwɝd/noun
afterword is spelled A-F-T-E-R-W-O-R-D: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “afterward vs afterword” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, afterword means “an epilogue” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of afterword is afterwords.
How many letters and syllables are in afterword?
| Letters | 9: A-F-T-E-R-W-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 59,387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 common is afterword?
Afterword appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th 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 afterword?
- UK /ˈɑːf.tə.wɜːd/
- US /ˈæf.tɚˌwɝd/
Afterword has 3 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-afterword.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with afterword
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).
Forms of afterword
- afterwords plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does afterword mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
an epilogue.
- 2
a postscript.
- 3
an appendix.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Afterword in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense epilogue:
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 afterword come from?
From after- + word. Compare foreword.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).