ancillary
/ˈæn.səˌlɛɹ.i/adjective, noun
ancillary is spelled A-N-C-I-L-L-A-R-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is anciliary: about 100 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 87 of all searches for the word. Ancillary is an adjective meaning “Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary”.
How many letters and syllables are in ancillary?
| Letters | 9: A-N-C-I-L-L-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 26,776th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, anciliary, about 100 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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).
How do you spell ancillary?
Ancillary is spelled A-N-C-I-L-L-A-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 87 of the searches for ancillary 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 ancillary?
Ancillary appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 26,776th 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 ancillary?
- UK /ænˈsɪl.ə.ɹiː/
- US /ˈæn.səˌlɛɹ.i/
- US [ˈɛn.səˌlɛɹ.i]
Ancillary 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: En-us-ancillary.ogg, En-au-ancillary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ancillary
- more ancillary comparative
- most ancillary superlative
- ancillaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ancillary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary.
noun
- 1
Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
- 2
archaicAn auxiliary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ancillary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | subordonné, secondaire, auxiliaire, ancillaire , accessoire , domestique |
| German | hilfs-, neben-, zusatz- |
| Portuguese | subordinado, secundário, auxiliar, ancilário, ancilar, auxiliário |
| Spanish | secundario, auxiliar, ancilar, ancilario , accesorio, apoyo |
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 ancillary come from?
From Latin ancillāris (“ancillary; relating to female slaves”), from ancilla (“slave-woman”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).