API
/ˌeɪˌpiˈaɪ/noun
API is spelled A-P-I: 3 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, API means “Initialism of active pharmaceutical ingredient” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of API is APIs.
How many letters and syllables are in API?
| Letters | 3: A-P-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.8 times per million words; the 11,541st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is API?
API appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st 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 API?
- US /ˌeɪˌpiˈaɪ/
API 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Khangtran2008-API.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with API?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as API from its last stressed vowel (/aɪ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of API
- APIs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does API mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Initialism of active pharmaceutical ingredient.
- 2
Initialism of application programming interface.
- 3
Initialism of Asian and Pacific Islander.
- 4
Initialism of advanced primer ignition.
- 5
Initialism of armor-piercing incendiary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does API come from?
From Latin apis (“bee”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).