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PlainSpell

aloof

/əˈluːf/adverb, adjective

aloof is spelled A-L-O-O-F: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, aloof means “At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in aloof?

Letters5: A-L-O-O-F
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 aloof?

Aloof appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th 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 aloof?

  • /əˈluːf/

Aloof has 2 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-aloof.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of aloof

  • more aloof comparative
  • most aloof superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does aloof mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adverb

  1. 1

    At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.

  2. 2

    Without sympathy; unfavorably.

adjective

  1. 1

    Either physically or emotionally remote: distant, standoffish.

preposition

  1. 1

    obsoleteAway from; clear of.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Aloof in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchà l'écart, à distance (at or from a distance), dédaigneusement (without sympathy), distant, dédaigneux, réservé (reserved and remote; either physically or…)
German(ein Stück) entfernt, auf Abstand (etwas) (at or from a distance), distanziert, auf Abstand, auf Distanz, reserviert (without sympathy)
Portugueseà distância, a distância (at or from a distance), distante, reservado, afastado (reserved and remote; either physically or…)
Spanishapartado, distante (at or from a distance), sin compasión, indiferente (without sympathy), alejado, reservado (reserved and remote; either physically or…)

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 aloof come from?

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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