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PlainSpell

at

/æt/preposition, noun, verb

at is spelled A-T: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 5,012 times per million words in written English, the 22nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a preposition, at means “In, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in at?

Letters2: A-T
Syllables1
In writing5,012 times per million words; the 22nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is at?

At appears 5,012 times per million words in written English, the 22nd 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 at?

  • /æt/
  • [æʔ]
  • /ət/

At has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-at.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with at

Also written: att.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of at

  • ats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • atting participle, present
  • atted participle, past

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

What does at mean?

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

preposition

  1. 1

    In, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place).

    Caesar was at Rome.

  2. 2

    Attending (an educational institution).

    She's at Oxford University, studying chemistry.

  3. 3

    Working for (a company) or in (a place or situation).

    He used to be at Lehman Brothers. Now he's at Merrill Lynch.

  4. 4

    Indicating distance or direction relative to the speaker.

    Target at five miles. Prepare torpedoes.

  5. 5

    Present or taking place during (an event).

    Was he at the meeting?

  6. 6

    Indicating time of occurrence, especially an instant of time, or a period of time relatively short in context or from the speaker’s perspective.

    at six o’clock; at dawn; at closing time; at the age of twelve; at night; at the moment

  7. 7

    CommonwealthIrelandUK(also as at; before dates) On (a particular date).

    balance as at 20th March 1999

  8. 8

    In the direction of; towards; (often implied to be in a hostile or careless manner).

    Don’t just talk at someone; really listen to what they have to say.

noun

  1. 1

    The at sign (@).

  2. 2

    Alternative form of att (Laos currency unit)

noun

as AT
  1. 1

    Initialism of assistive technology.

  2. 2

    USInitialism of auxiliary tugboat.

  3. 3

    USInitialism of anaerobic threshold.

  4. 4

    Initialism of alternate timeline.

  5. 5

    Initialism of aerotriangulation.

  6. 6

    Initialism of appropriate technology.

  7. 7

    Abbreviation of air tanker.

  8. 8

    Initialism of activity theory.

adjective

as AT
  1. 1

    Initialism of antitank.

verb

  1. 1

    informalrareRare form of @; to reply to or talk to someone, either online or face-to-face. (from the practice of targeting a message or reply to someone online by writing @name) (a form of @)

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

At in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchà, en (in or very near a particular place), vers (in the direction of)
Germanan, auf, bei, in, zu (in or very near a particular place), um (indicating time)
Portugueseem, por (in or very near a particular place), a (indicating time)
Spanishen (in or very near a particular place), a, ad (indicating time), ante (in response or reaction to)

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 at come from?

From Middle English at, from Old English æt (“at, near, by, toward”), from Proto-West Germanic *at, from Proto-Germanic *at (“at, near, to”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“near, at”). Cognate with Scots at (“at”), North Frisian äät, äit, et, it (“at”), Danish at (“to”), Swedish åt (“for, toward”), Norwegian åt (“to”), Faroese at (“at, to, toward”), Icelandic að (“to, towards”), Gothic 𐌰𐍄 (at, “at”), Latin ad (“to, near”).

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

What to look up after at