anneal
an·neal/əˈniːl/verb, noun
anneal is spelled A-N-N-E-A-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables (an·neal). It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, anneal means “To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in anneal?
| Letters | 6: A-N-N-E-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: an·neal |
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 134,976th 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 anneal?
Anneal appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th 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 anneal?
- /əˈniːl/
Anneal has 2 syllables, split an·neal in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-anneal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of anneal
- anneals present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- annealing participle, present
- annealed participle, past
- aneal
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does anneal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
- 2
To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
- 3
archaicTo burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
- 4
To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
- 5
archaicTo strengthen or harden.
The experience annealed them, strengthening their resolve.
- 6
Alternative form of anele (“anoint”).
noun
- 1
An act of annealing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Anneal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to subject to great heat and then cooling:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | recuire |
| German | ausglühen, tempern, anlassen, spannungsfrei glühen, spannungsfrei machen, vergüten |
| Portuguese | recozer |
| Spanish | recocer |
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 anneal come from?
From Middle English anelen, onelen, from Old English onǣlan (“to burn, ignite, set fire to, consume, heat, enlighten, incite, inflame, inspire, kindle”), from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”) + Proto-Germanic *ailijaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn”). The double-N spelling may have arisen by analogy with Latinate verbs like announce, annex, and annul. The word is related to Old English onāl (“that which is burnt, burning; incense”), Old English āl (“fire, burning”), Icelandic eldur (“fire”), Swedish eld (“fire, flame”), Danish ild (“fire”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).