biography
/baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/noun, verb
biography is spelled B-I-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, biography means “A person's life story, especially one published” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of biography is biographies.
How many letters and syllables are in biography?
| Letters | 9: B-I-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.8 times per million words; the 8,417th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is biography?
Biography appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th 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 biography?
- UK /baɪˈɒɡɹəfi/
- US /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/
Biography 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-biography.oga, En-us-biography.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with biography?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as biography from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɡɹəfi/):
- photography
- geography
- pornography
- choreography
- topography
- discography
- tomography
- typography
- oceanography
- ethnography
- historiography
- crystallography
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 biography
- biographies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- biographying participle, present
- biographied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does biography mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person's life story, especially one published.
There are many biographies of Benjamin Franklin.
- 2
The art of writing this kind of story.
She is best known for biography and history, but she is also a novelist.
verb
- 1
To write a biography of.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate biography?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of biography: bio, bio., biog..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Biography in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense personal life story:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | biographie |
| German | Biografie, Biographie |
| Portuguese | biografia |
| Spanish | biografía |
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 biography come from?
Borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βίος (bíos, life) + -γραφία (-graphía, writing).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).