camshaft
/ˈkæmʃæft/noun
camshaft is spelled C-A-M-S-H-A-F-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,808th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, camshaft means “A shaft fitted with cams; especially one in a piston engine that activates the valves” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of camshaft is camshafts.
How many letters and syllables are in camshaft?
| Letters | 8: C-A-M-S-H-A-F-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 54,808th 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 camshaft?
Camshaft appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,808th 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 camshaft?
- /ˈkæmʃæft/
Camshaft 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Sapaa-camshaft.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of camshaft
- camshafts plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does camshaft mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A shaft fitted with cams; especially one in a piston engine that activates the valves.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Camshaft in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a shaft fitted with cams:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | arbre à cames |
| German | Nockenwelle |
| Portuguese | eixo de comando, árvore de cames |
| Spanish | árbol de levas |
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 camshaft come from?
From cam + shaft.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).