algorithm
al·gorithm/ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/noun
algorithm is spelled A-L-G-O-R-I-T-H-M, 2 syllables: al·gorithm. The wrong spelling people search most is algoritm: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 357 of all searches for the word. Algorithm is a noun meaning “A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a…”. The plural of algorithm is algorithms.
How many letters and syllables are in algorithm?
| Letters | 9: A-L-G-O-R-I-T-H-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: al·gorithm |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 6,884th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, algoritm, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell algorithm?
Algorithm is spelled A-L-G-O-R-I-T-H-M. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 355 of the searches for algorithm 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 algorithm?
Algorithm appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th 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 algorithm?
- /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/
- [ˈæɫɡəɹɪðm̩]
- British /ˈalɡəɹɪð(ə)m/
Algorithm has 2 syllables, split al·gorithm in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-algorithm.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with algorithm?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as algorithm.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: logarithm.
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 algorithm
- algorithms plural
- algorism
- augrim
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does algorithm mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
Informally, an algorithm is any well-defined computational procedure that takes some value, or set of values, as input and produces some value, or set of values, as output. An algorithm is thus a sequence of computational steps that transfo
- 2
A flowchart illustrating a decision-making process for human users, especially health care professionals.
- 3
obsoleteCalculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
- 4
software that makes content display determinations on a platform, in totality of effect upon all end users (within a potential audience).
- 5
informalthe influenced zeitgeist: e.g. what content ends up trending or viral, what persons become a main character or cancelled
- 6
informalthe actual personalized selections of content seen by specific user(s), the microtargeting to which they are subject
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate algorithm?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of algorithm: alg, algo.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Algorithm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense well-defined procedure:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | algorithme |
| German | Algorithmus |
| Portuguese | algoritmo |
| Spanish | algoritmo |
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.