bacteria
/bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/noun
bacteria is spelled B-A-C-T-E-R-I-A: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bacteria vs bacterium” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, bacteria means “A type, species, or strain of bacterium” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bacteria is bacterias or bacteriae.
How many letters and syllables are in bacteria?
| Letters | 8: B-A-C-T-E-R-I-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bacteria?
Bacteria appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th 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 bacteria?
- UK /bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/
- US /bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/
Bacteria 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: En-us-bacteria.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bacteria
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bacteria?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bacteria from its last stressed vowel (/ɪɹiə/):
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 bacteria
- bacterias plural
- bacteriae plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bacteria mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
USA type, species, or strain of bacterium.
- 2
USproscribedAlternative form of bacterium.
- 3
derogatoryslangLowlife, slob (could be treated as plural or singular).
- 4
plural of bacterium
- 5
datedAn oval bacterium, as distinguished from a spherical coccus or rod-shaped bacillus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate bacteria?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of bacteria: bact, bact..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does bacteria come from?
Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”); by surface analysis, bacteri(um) + -a.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).