ballista
/bəˈlɪstə/noun
ballista is spelled B-A-L-L-I-S-T-A: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 92,628th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ballista means “An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ballista is ballistas or ballistae.
How many letters and syllables are in ballista?
| Letters | 8: B-A-L-L-I-S-T-A |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 92,628th 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 ballista?
Ballista appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 92,628th 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 ballista?
- /bəˈlɪstə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of ballista
- ballistas plural
- ballistae plural
- ballistæ plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ballista mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ballista in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense crossbow-like military engine for hurling large missiles:
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 ballista come from?
Borrowed from Latin ballista, from Ancient Greek βαλλίστρα (ballístra), from βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).