agent
a·gent/ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒənt/noun
agent is spelled A-G-E-N-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables (a·gent). It appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, agent means “One who exerts power, or has the power to act” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of agent is agents.
How many letters and syllables are in agent?
| Letters | 5: A-G-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: a·gent |
| In writing | 65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 agent?
Agent appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th 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 agent?
- /ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒənt/
- [ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒənt] ~ [ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒn̩t]
Agent has 2 syllables, split a·gent in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-agent.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-agent.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of agent
- agents plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does agent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One who exerts power, or has the power to act.
- 2
One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by that person's authority; someone entrusted to act on behalf of or in behalf of another, such as to transact business for them.
He worked as an agent for the government.
- 3
A person who looks for work for another person and brokers a deal between the hiree and hirer.
- 4
Someone who works for an intelligence agency: whether an officer or employee thereof or anyone else who agrees to help their efforts (for ideology, for money, as blackmailee, or otherwise).
@Gary, are you a PAP agent? ... =) trying to incite rebellion and revolution on this site so that the govt will have an excuse to take down this site?
- 5
An active power or cause or substance; something (e.g. biological, chemical, thermal, etc.) that has the power to produce an effect.
- 6
In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
- 7
The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".
Near-synonym: doer
- 8
A cheat who is assisted by dishonest casino staff.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Agent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | agent , agente , espion |
| Portuguese | agente |
| German | Agent, Agentin , Wirkstoff , Agens |
| Spanish | agente, gendarme |
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 agent come from?
From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).