avian
/ˈeɪvi.ən/adjective, noun
avian is spelled A-V-I-A-N: 5 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, avian means “Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in avian?
| Letters | 5: A-V-I-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 24,170th 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 avian?
Avian appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th 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 avian?
- /ˈeɪvi.ən/
Avian 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-avian.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of avian
- avians plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does avian mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures.
noun
- 1
A bird.
- 2
A bird-like or flying creature.
- 3
slangSomeone who roleplays or describes themselves as being a bird or bird-like animal character with human characteristics.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Avian in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of birds:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | avien, aviaire |
| German | vogelartig, aviär |
| Portuguese | aviário |
| Spanish | aviar, aviano, aviario |
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 avian come from?
From Latin avis (“bird”) + -ian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).