calamity
ca·lam·i·ty/kəˈlæmɪti/noun
calamity is spelled C-A-L-A-M-I-T-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables (ca·lam·i·ty). It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, calamity means “An event resulting in great loss” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of calamity is calamities.
How many letters and syllables are in calamity?
| Letters | 8: C-A-L-A-M-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ca·lam·i·ty |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th 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 calamity?
Calamity appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 calamity?
- /kəˈlæmɪti/
Calamity has 4 syllables, split ca·lam·i·ty in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-calamity.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of calamity
- calamities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does calamity mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An event resulting in great loss.
- 2
The distress that results from some disaster.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Calamity in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense event resulting in great loss:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | calamité |
| German | Unheil, Kalamität |
| Portuguese | calamidade |
| Spanish | calamidad |
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 calamity come from?
From Middle French calamité, from Latin calamitās (“loss, damage; disaster”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).