anadromous
/əˈnæd.ɹə.məs/adjective
anadromous is spelled A-N-A-D-R-O-M-O-U-S: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, anadromous means “That lives in the sea and breeds in fresh water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in anadromous?
| Letters | 10: A-N-A-D-R-O-M-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 12 million words; the 103,949th 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 anadromous?
Anadromous appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th 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 anadromous?
- UK /əˈnad.ɹə.məs/
- US /əˈnæd.ɹə.məs/
Anadromous has 4 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ncalif-anadromous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does anadromous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That lives in the sea and breeds in fresh water.
Shads and most species of salmon are anadromous.
- 2
Of a fern: in which the first veins in a frond segment are produced towards the apex of the frond.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Anadromous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of migratory fish:
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 anadromous come from?
From Ancient Greek ἀνάδρομος (anádromos, “fish entering a river from the sea”). By surface analysis, ana- + -dromous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).