austerity
/ɔˈstɛɹɪti/noun
austerity is spelled A-U-S-T-E-R-I-T-Y: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, austerity means “Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of austerity is austerities.
How many letters and syllables are in austerity?
| Letters | 9: A-U-S-T-E-R-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th 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 austerity?
Austerity appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th 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 austerity?
- US /ɔˈstɛɹɪti/
Austerity 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-austerity.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with austerity?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as austerity from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹɪti/):
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 austerity
- austerities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does austerity mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
- 2
Freedom from adornment; plainness; severe simplicity.
- 3
A policy of deficit-cutting, which by definition requires lower spending, higher taxes, or both.
- 4
obsoleteSourness and harshness to the taste.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Austerity in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense severity of manners or life:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | austérité |
| German | Einschränkung, Härte, Strenge, Austerität, Genügsamkeit |
| Portuguese | austeridade |
| Spanish | austeridad |
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 austerity come from?
From Ancient Greek αὐστηρότης (austērótēs, “bitter, harsh”). Morphologically austere + -ity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).