cede
/siːd/verb
cede is spelled C-E-D-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “cede vs seed” about 10 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, cede means “To give up; yield to another” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in cede?
| Letters | 4: C-E-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,504th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cede?
Cede appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th 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 cede?
- /siːd/
Cede has one syllable (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: En-us-cede.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cede
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: seed (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with cede?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as cede.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dece.
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 cede
- cedes present, singular, he/she/it
- ceding participle, present
- ceded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cede mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To give up; yield to another.
Edward decided to cede the province.
- 2
Same as above.
After figuring out the seating arrangement and ceding him the window seat, I took my own seat by the aisle.
- 3
To give way.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cede in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | céder |
| German | abtreten, zedieren, überlassen , nachgeben |
| Portuguese | ceder |
| Spanish | ceder |
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 cede come from?
Borrowed from Middle French ceder, from Old French ceder, from Latin cēdō (“to yield”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱyesdʰ- (“to drive away; to go away”). Cognate with Tocharian B kätk- (“to cross, pass”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).