bellwether
/ˈbɛlwɛðɚ/noun
bellwether is spelled B-E-L-L-W-E-T-H-E-R: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bellwether means “The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bellwether is bellwethers.
How many letters and syllables are in bellwether?
| Letters | 10: B-E-L-L-W-E-T-H-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th 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 bellwether?
Bellwether appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th 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 bellwether?
- UK /ˈbɛlwɛðə/
- US /ˈbɛlwɛðɚ/
Bellwether 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: En-us-bellwether.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bellwether
- bellwethers plural
- bell-wether
- belwether
- bellweather
- bellwhether
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bellwether mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.
- 2
Anything that indicates future trends.
Mortgage delinquencies often act as a bellwether for a forthcoming recession.
- 3
A stock whose price performance is treated as an indicator of the likely direction of a broader market, sector, or industry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bellwether in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | menon , indicateur |
| German | Leithammel , Trendsetter, Trendbarometer, Indikator, Vorbote , führender Wert |
| Spanish | manso , barómetro |
| Portuguese | indicador, barômetro |
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 bellwether come from?
From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).