calamari
/kæləˈmɑːɹi/noun
calamari is spelled C-A-L-A-M-A-R-I: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, calamari means “Squid as food, especially cooked in the form of calamari rings” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of calamari is calamaris.
How many letters and syllables are in calamari?
| Letters | 8: C-A-L-A-M-A-R-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 48,775th 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 calamari?
Calamari appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th 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 calamari?
- /kæləˈmɑːɹi/
Calamari has 4 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-calamari.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of calamari
- calamaris plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does calamari mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Squid as food, especially cooked in the form of calamari rings.
- 2
Squid, the mollusk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Calamari in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense as food:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | calmar |
| German | Tintenfisch |
| Portuguese | lula |
| Spanish | calamares |
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 calamari come from?
Borrowed from Italian calamari, plural of calamaro, from Latin calamarius, from calamus, from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed, ink pen”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).