bribery
/ˈbɹaɪbəɹi/noun
bribery is spelled B-R-I-B-E-R-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bribery means “The act of giving an illegal payment (a bribe) to a person in an official position as a means of influencing their decisions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bribery is briberies.
How many letters and syllables are in bribery?
| Letters | 7: B-R-I-B-E-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words; the 17,122nd 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 bribery?
Bribery appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd 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 bribery?
- /ˈbɹaɪbəɹi/
Bribery 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bribery.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bribery
- briberies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bribery mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of giving an illegal payment (a bribe) to a person in an official position as a means of influencing their decisions.
- 2
The activity of offering, giving, or accepting such bribes.
accept bribery
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bribery in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense making of illegal payment to persons in official positions as a means of influen:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | corruption |
| German | Bestechung |
| Portuguese | suborno |
| Spanish | soborno, cohecho, sobornación, convoluto |
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 bribery come from?
From bribe + -ery.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).