antenna
/ænˈtɛn.ə/noun
antenna is spelled A-N-T-E-N-N-A: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, antenna means “An appendage used for sensing on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of antenna is antennae or antennas; Wiktionary also lists antennæ (archaic).
How many letters and syllables are in antenna?
| Letters | 7: A-N-T-E-N-N-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.9 times per million words; the 10,028th 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 antenna?
Antenna appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th 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 antenna?
- /ænˈtɛn.ə/
Antenna has 3 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-antenna.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of antenna
- antennae plural
- antennas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does antenna mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An appendage used for sensing on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.
- 2
An apparatus to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.
- 3
The faculty of intuitive astuteness.
- 4
A fragment of an oligosaccharide
- 5
The spar to which a lateen sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Antenna in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 antenna come from?
Borrowed from Latin antenna, antemna (“yard, sailyard; pole”). First used in this sense as a Latin word in the 15th century and as an English word by the end of the 17th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).