cello
/ˈt͡ʃɛloʊ/noun
cello is spelled C-E-L-L-O. The wrong spelling people search most is chello: about 1,310 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 18 of all searches for the word. Cello is a noun meaning “A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest)…”. The plural of cello is cellos or 'cellos; Wiktionary also lists celli (rare).
How many letters and syllables are in cello?
| Letters | 5: C-E-L-L-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 19,825th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, chello, about 1,310 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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 do you spell cello?
Cello is spelled C-E-L-L-O. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 18 of the searches for cello 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 cello?
Cello appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 19,825th 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 cello?
- UK /ˈtʃɛləʊ/
- US /ˈt͡ʃɛloʊ/
As a noun (“cellophane”): /ˈsɛləʊ/, /ˈsɛloʊ/.
Cello 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: En-us-cello.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cello?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cello from its last stressed vowel (/ɛloʊ/):
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 cello
- cellos plural
- celli plural, rare
- 'cello
- 'cellos plural
- 'celli plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cello mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.
I haven't always been this cool because I haven't always played guitar. I started out on the cello. Yeah, the cello is a wonderful, beautiful instrument. It's cool to be an adult that plays the cello. Being a kid that played the cello sucke
- 2
cellophane
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cello in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense musical instrument:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | violoncelle |
| German | Cello, Violoncello |
| Portuguese | violoncelo |
| Spanish | chelo, violonchelo, violoncelo |
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 cello come from?
Clipping of violoncello, the original name, from Italian violoncello (“little violone”), from violone (“an early form of the double bass”) + -cello (“-elle”, forming diminutives), violone (“big viola”) itself being derived from viola + -one (“-oon”, forming augmentatives).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).