apoptosis
/ˌæ.pəˈtoʊ.sɪs/noun
apoptosis is spelled A-P-O-P-T-O-S-I-S. The wrong spelling people search most is apopotosis: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 323 of all searches for the word. Apoptosis is a noun meaning “A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death…”. The plural of apoptosis is apoptoses.
How many letters and syllables are in apoptosis?
| Letters | 9: A-P-O-P-T-O-S-I-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, apopotosis, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell apoptosis?
Apoptosis is spelled A-P-O-P-T-O-S-I-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 321 of the searches for apoptosis 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 apoptosis?
Apoptosis appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th 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 apoptosis?
- UK /ˌapɒpˈtəʊsɪs/
- US /ˌæ.pəˈtoʊ.sɪs/
- US /ˌæpəpˈtoʊsəs/
Apoptosis 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-uk-apoptosis-pronounced-p.ogg, En-uk-apoptosis-silent-p.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst-apoptosis.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with apoptosis?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as apoptosis from its last stressed vowel (/oʊsɪs/):
- prognosis
- sclerosis
- psychosis
- fibrosis
- necrosis
- thrombosis
- stenosis
- osmosis
- symbiosis
- scoliosis
- mitosis
- neurosis
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 apoptosis
- apoptoses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does apoptosis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Apoptosis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense death of cells:
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 apoptosis come from?
From Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις (apóptōsis, “a falling off”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “falling”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).