cartel
/kɑɹˈtɛl/noun
cartel is spelled C-A-R-T-E-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cartel means “A group of businesses or nations that collude to limit competition within an industry or market” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cartel is cartels.
How many letters and syllables are in cartel?
| Letters | 6: C-A-R-T-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cartel?
Cartel appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st 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 cartel?
- UK /kɑːˈtɛl/
- US /kɑɹˈtɛl/
Cartel 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)-Vealhurl-cartel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cartel?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cartel from its last stressed vowel (/ɛl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rectal, claret.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of cartel
- cartels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cartel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A group of businesses or nations that collude to limit competition within an industry or market.
oil cartel
- 2
A combination of political groups (notably parties) for common action.
- 3
A written letter of defiance or challenge.
- 4
An official agreement concerning the exchange of prisoners.
- 5
A ship used to negotiate with an enemy in time of war, and to exchange prisoners.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cartel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense group of businesses or nations that collude to fix prices:
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 cartel come from?
In the business sense, borrowed from German Kartell, first used by Eugen Richter in 1871 in the Reichstag. In the political sense, which was the vehicle for this metaphor, the English sense, like the German sense, was borrowed from French cartel in the sixteenth century, from Italian cartello, diminutive of carta (“card, page”), from Latin charta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).