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aspirate

/ˈæs.pəɹ.ət/noun, verb, adjective

aspirate is spelled A-S-P-I-R-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 84,254th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, aspirate means “The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive or fricative consonant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of aspirate is aspirates.

How many letters and syllables are in aspirate?

Letters8: A-S-P-I-R-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 8 million words; the 84,254th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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 aspirate?

Aspirate appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 84,254th 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 aspirate?

  • US /ˈæs.pəɹ.ət/
  • US /ˈæs.pɪ.ɹət/
  • US /ˈæs.pə.ɹɪt/

As a verb (“To remove a liquid or gas by means of suction”): /ˈæs.pəɹ.eɪt/, /ˈæs.pɪ.ɹeɪt/, /ˈæs.pə.ɹeɪt/.

Aspirate 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-aspirate-noun.ogg, En-us-aspirate-verb.ogg, En-au-aspirate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with aspirate?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as aspirate (/æspəɹət/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: parasite.

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 aspirate

  • aspirates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • aspirating participle, present
  • aspirated participle, past
  • more aspirate comparative
  • most aspirate superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does aspirate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive or fricative consonant.

  2. 2

    A sound produced by such a puff of air.

  3. 3

    A mark of aspiration (ʽ) used in Greek; the asper, or rough breathing.

    a. 1742, Richard Bentley, letter to Dr. Mead But we must correct then twenty authors who have it in the compound ἀπηθεῖν and ἀπήθημα ; and not (as the aspirate would require it) ἀφηθεῖν and αφήθημα

  4. 4

    A sample of fluid, tissue, or other substance that is withdrawn via aspiration (usually through a hollow needle) from a body cavity, cyst, or tumor.

verb

  1. 1

    To remove a liquid or gas by means of suction.

  2. 2

    To inhale something other than air into one's lungs.

  3. 3

    To suffocate, having inhaled something other than air.

    The autopsy found that the casualty had aspirated in her sleep.

  4. 4

    To produce an audible puff of breath, especially following a consonant, such as the letter "h" at the beginning of house or hat in standard English.

adjective

  1. 1

    Synonym of aspirated.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Aspirate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaspiration (linguistics: puff of air), aspirer, pomper (to remove a liquid or gas by suction), inspirer, inhaler (to draw into one's lungs)
GermanAspiration, Behauchung (linguistics: puff of air)
Spanishaspiración (linguistics: puff of air), aspirar, chupar (to remove a liquid or gas by suction), inhalar (to draw into one's lungs), aspirada (linguistics: sound produced)
Portugueseaspirar (to remove a liquid or gas by suction), inalar (to draw into one's lungs)

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 aspirate come from?

Learned borrowing from Latin aspīrātus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after aspirate