alluvium
noun
alluvium is spelled A-L-L-U-V-I-U-M: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alluvium means “soil, clay, silt or gravel deposited by flowing water, as it slows, in a river bed, delta, estuary or flood plain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of alluvium is alluviums or alluvia.
How many letters and syllables are in alluvium?
| Letters | 8: A-L-L-U-V-I-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 78,613th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is alluvium?
Alluvium appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th 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 alluvium?
- US
Alluvium has 4 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)-Vininn126-alluvium.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of alluvium
- alluviums plural
- alluvia plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does alluvium mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
soil, clay, silt or gravel deposited by flowing water, as it slows, in a river bed, delta, estuary or flood plain
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Alluvium in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense deposited material:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | alluvion |
| German | Alluvium, Alluvialboden, Anschwemmungsboden, Anschwemmung, Schwemmland, Schwemmlandboden |
| Portuguese | aluvião, alúvio |
| Spanish | aluvión |
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 alluvium come from?
From Medieval Latin alluvium (“matter deposited by flowing water”), neuter of alluvius (“deposited by a river”), from Latin alluviō (“washing upon, overflowing”). See also al-.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).