brilliancy
bril·lian·cy/ˈbɹɪljənsi/noun
brilliancy is spelled B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-C-Y: 10 letters and 3 syllables (bril·lian·cy). It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brilliancy means “A shining quality; brilliance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brilliancy is brilliancies.
How many letters and syllables are in brilliancy?
| Letters | 10: B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: bril·lian·cy |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 124,184th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is brilliancy?
Brilliancy appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th 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 brilliancy?
- /ˈbɹɪljənsi/
Brilliancy has 3 syllables, split bril·lian·cy in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-brilliancy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of brilliancy
- brilliancies plural
- brilliance
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brilliancy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A shining quality; brilliance.
- 2
An act of being brilliant.
His brilliancy lay in combining old concepts from far-flung fields into a new idea.
- 3
A spectacular and beautiful game of chess, generally featuring sacrificial attacks and unexpected moves.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brilliancy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense shining quality:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | brillance |
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 brilliancy come from?
From brilliant + -ancy; attested earlier than brilliance. Compare French brillance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).