assailant
/əˈseɪlənt/noun, adjective
assailant is spelled A-S-S-A-I-L-A-N-T: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, assailant means “Someone who attacks or assails another violently, or criminally” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of assailant is assailants.
How many letters and syllables are in assailant?
| Letters | 9: A-S-S-A-I-L-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st 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 assailant?
Assailant appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 assailant?
- /əˈseɪlənt/
Assailant 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)-Vealhurl-assailant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of assailant
- assailants plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does assailant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Someone who attacks or assails another violently, or criminally.
- 2
A hostile critic or opponent.
adjective
- 1
Assailing; attacking.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Assailant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an attacker; someone who attacks another violently, or criminally:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | agresseur, assaillant |
| German | Angreifer, Angreiferin |
| Portuguese | agressor |
| Spanish | asaltante, atacante |
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 assailant come from?
From Old French assaillant, from the verb assaillir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“to, towards”) + salīre (“to jump”). Equivalent to assail + -ant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).