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PlainSpell

breakup

/ˈbɹeɪk.ʌp/noun

breakup is spelled B-R-E-A-K-U-P: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “break-up vs breakup” about 10 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, breakup means “The act of breaking up; disintegration or division” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of breakup is breakups.

How many letters and syllables are in breakup?

Letters7: B-R-E-A-K-U-P
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 breakup?

Breakup appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 breakup?

  • /ˈbɹeɪk.ʌp/

Breakup 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-breakup.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with breakup

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

break-up vs breakup10 G

Also written: break-up (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of breakup

  • breakups plural
  • break up
  • break-up

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does breakup mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act of breaking up; disintegration or division.

  2. 2

    The termination of a friendship or a romantic relationship.

  3. 3

    A loss of emotional control; a breakdown.

  4. 4

    CanadaThe season during which winter ice covering bodies of water disintegrates; more generally, spring.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Breakup in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanTrennung (the act of breaking up, disintegration, or…), Auflösung, Beendigung, Ende (termination of a friendship or a romantic…)
Portuguesequebra (the act of breaking up, disintegration, or…), término (termination of a friendship or a romantic…)
Frenchrupture (termination of a friendship or a romantic…), dégel (ice break-up season)
Spanishdischar, ruptura (termination of a friendship or a romantic…)

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 breakup come from?

Deverbal from break up.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after breakup