captivity
cap·tiv·i·ty/kæpˈtɪvɪti/noun
captivity is spelled C-A-P-T-I-V-I-T-Y: 9 letters and 4 syllables (cap·tiv·i·ty). It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, captivity means “The state of being captive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of captivity is captivities.
How many letters and syllables are in captivity?
| Letters | 9: C-A-P-T-I-V-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: cap·tiv·i·ty |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th 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 captivity?
Captivity appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 captivity?
- /kæpˈtɪvɪti/
Captivity has 4 syllables, split cap·tiv·i·ty in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-captivity.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of captivity
- captivities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does captivity mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state of being captive.
held in captivity
- 2
obsoleteA group of people/beings captive.
- 3
The state or period of being imprisoned, confined, or enslaved.
long captivity
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Captivity in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | captivité |
| German | Gefangenschaft |
| Portuguese | catividade , cativeiro |
| Spanish | cautividad, cautiverio, captiverio, captividad |
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 captivity come from?
From Middle English captivite, from Latin captīvitās. By surface analysis, captive + -ity. Entered into the English lexicon around the 14th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).