avoid
/əˈvɔɪd/verb
avoid is spelled A-V-O-I-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, avoid means “To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in avoid?
| Letters | 5: A-V-O-I-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 74 times per million words; the 1,427th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 avoid?
Avoid appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th 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 avoid?
- /əˈvɔɪd/
Avoid has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-avoid.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of avoid
- avoids present, singular, he/she/it
- avoiding participle, present
- avoided participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does avoid mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.
- 2
To stay out of the way of (something harmful).
I avoided the slap easily.
- 3
To keep away from; to keep clear of; to stay away from.
I try to avoid the company of gamblers.
- 4
To try not to do something or to have something happen.
- 5
obsoleteTo make empty; to clear.
If thou haue, he shal lyue with thee, and auoide thee out ; and he shal not sorewen vpon thee.
- 6
To make void, to annul; to refute (especially a contract).
- 7
To defeat or evade; to invalidate.
- 8
obsoleteTo emit or throw out; to void.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Avoid in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éviter , fuir |
| German | ausweichen , meiden, fernbleiben , vermeiden , entkräften, abwerten |
| Portuguese | evitar |
| Spanish | evitar |
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 avoid come from?
From Middle English avoiden, from Anglo-Norman avoider, Old French esvuidier (“to empty out”), from es- + vuidier, from Vulgar Latin *vocitāre < Vulgar Latin *vocitum, ultimately related to Latin vacuus. Displaced native Old English forbūgan (literally “to bend away from”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).