cannibal
/ˈkænɪbəl/noun
cannibal is spelled C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is cannabal: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 30 of all searches for the word. Cannibal is a noun meaning “An organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who consumes human flesh”. The plural of cannibal is cannibals.
How many letters and syllables are in cannibal?
| Letters | 8: C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,150th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cannabal, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell cannibal?
Cannibal is spelled C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 30 of the searches for cannibal in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is cannibal?
Cannibal appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th 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 cannibal?
- /ˈkænɪbəl/
Cannibal has 3 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-cannibal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cannibal
- cannibals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cannibal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who consumes human flesh.
- 2
obsoleteslangEllipsis of cannibal boat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cannibal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an organism which eats others of its own species:
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 cannibal come from?
Borrowed from Spanish caníbal, from Taíno caniba, the Taíno form recorded by Christopher Columbus for the Caribs, who were greatly feared. From an Arawak language, probably Taíno, and ultimately from Proto-Cariban *karipona (“person”). Doublet of Carib, caribe, Garifuna, Carijona, Kari'na, and Caribbean.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).