cabin
/ˈkæbɪn/noun, verb
cabin is spelled C-A-B-I-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cabin means “A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cabin is cabins.
How many letters and syllables are in cabin?
| Letters | 5: C-A-B-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th 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 cabin?
Cabin appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th 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 cabin?
- /ˈkæbɪn/
Cabin 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: En-us-cabin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cabin
- cabins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cabining participle, present
- cabined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cabin mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
USA small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those who meant to live in it.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin.
- 2
informalA chalet or lodge, especially one that can hold large groups of people.
- 3
A private room on a ship.
the captain’s cabin
- 4
The interior of a boat, enclosed to create a small room, particularly for sleeping.
- 5
The passenger area of an airplane.
- 6
The section of a passenger plane having the same class of service.
- 7
informalA signal box.
- 8
A small room; an enclosed place.
verb
- 1
To place in a cabin or other small space.
- 2
To limit the scope of.
There was a time when this Court’s precedents may have portended the kind of First Amendment liability for purely private property owners that the majority spends so much time rejecting. […] But the Court soon stanched that trend. See Lloyd
- 3
obsoleteTo live in, or as if in, a cabin; to lodge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cabin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cabane , cabine |
| German | Hütte, Blockhütte , Kabine, Kajüte |
| Portuguese | cabana , cabine , cabina, camarote |
| Spanish | barraca, cabaña , cabina , camarote |
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 cabin come from?
From Middle English caban, cabane, from Old French cabane, from Medieval Latin capanna (“a cabin”); see further etymology there. Doublet of cabana and cabane.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).