blackout
/ˈblæk.aʊt/noun
blackout is spelled B-L-A-C-K-O-U-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, blackout means “A temporary loss of consciousness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of blackout is blackouts.
How many letters and syllables are in blackout?
| Letters | 8: B-L-A-C-K-O-U-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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).
How common is blackout?
Blackout appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st 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 blackout?
- US /ˈblæk.aʊt/
- /ˈblæk.ʌʊt/
Blackout has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-blackout.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with blackout
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: black-out (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of blackout
- blackouts plural
- black-out
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does blackout mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A temporary loss of consciousness.
- 2
A temporary loss of memory.
- 3
A large-scale power failure, and resulting loss of electricity to consumers.
- 4
An instance of censorship, especially a temporary one.
media blackout
- 5
An intentional outage of a website or other online service, typically as a form of protest.
the 2012 English Wikipedia blackout
- 6
The mandatory blocking of all light emanating from buildings, as well as outdoor and street lighting as a measure against aerial bombing or naval attack, as imposed during, e.g., World War II.
- 7
The blocking out of as much light as possible.
blackout blinds; blackout curtains
- 8
rareslangA mass murder committed, usually in an urban area, to eliminate potential witnesses of a previous crime.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Blackout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | blackout , trou de mémoire , coupure de courant |
| Portuguese | desmaio , branca , blecaute, apagão |
| Spanish | desmayo , apagón , corte |
| German | Blackout, Erinnerungsverlust, Filmriss , Stromausfall |
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 blackout come from?
Deverbal from black out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).