author
au·thor/ˈɔ.θɚ/noun, verb
author is spelled A-U-T-H-O-R, 2 syllables: au·thor. The wrong spelling people search most is auther: about 320 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Author is a noun meaning “The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a…”. The plural of author is authors.
How many letters and syllables are in author?
| Letters | 6: A-U-T-H-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: au·thor |
| In writing | 89 times per million words; the 1,191st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, auther, about 320 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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).
How do you spell author?
Author is spelled A-U-T-H-O-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 14 of the searches for author 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 author?
Author appears 89 times per million words in written English, the 1,191st 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 author?
- UK /ˈɔː.θə/
- Australia /ˈoː.θə/
- US /ˈɔ.θɚ/
Author has 2 syllables, split au·thor in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-author.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of author
- authors plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- authoring participle, present
- authored participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does author mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.
The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
- 2
USThe initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship.
The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.
- 3
Someone who writes books for a living.
- 4
obsoletePrincipal; the primary participant in a crime.
- 5
archaicOne's authority for something: an informant.
- 6
The creator or cause of anything.
verb
- 1
USproscribedTo create a work as its author.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate author?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of author: auth..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Author in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | auteur, auteure, autrice , écrire, créer |
| German | Autor, Autorin, Verfasser, Verfasserin, Schriftsteller, Schriftstellerin |
| Portuguese | autor |
| Spanish | autor, autora, escritor, escritora , escribir |
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 author come from?
From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic. Doublet of auteur.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).