charade
/ʃəˈɹeɪd/noun, verb
charade is spelled C-H-A-R-A-D-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, charade means “A single round of the game charades, an acted form of the earlier riddles” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of charade is charades.
How many letters and syllables are in charade?
| Letters | 7: C-H-A-R-A-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is charade?
Charade appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th 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 charade?
- UK /ʃəˈɹɑːd/
- US /ʃəˈɹeɪd/
Charade 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-charade.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-John_Adams_VI-Charade.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with charade?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as charade from its last stressed vowel (/eɪd/):
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 charade
- charades plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- charading participle, present
- charaded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does charade mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA genre of riddles where the clues to the answer are descriptions or puns on its syllables, with a final clue to the whole.
CHARADE, a trifling species of composition, or quasi-literary form of amusement, which may perhaps be best defined as a punning enigma propounded in a series of descriptions. A word is taken of two or more syllables, each forming a distinct
- 2
A single round of the game charades, an acted form of the earlier riddles.
...The most popular form of this amusement is the acted charade, in which the meaning of the different syllables is acted out on the stage, the audience being left to guess each syllable and thus, combining the meaning of all the syllables,
- 3
obsoleteA play resembling the game charades, particularly due to poor acting.
- 4
A deception or pretense, originally an absurdly obvious one but now in general use.
This whole charade is absurd.
- 5
A form of wordplay where several words are placed together to form a new word or part thereof.
verb
- 1
To act out a charade (of); to gesture; to pretend.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Charade in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | charade |
| German | Scharade, Silbenrätsel, Versrätsel , pantomimisches Rätsel |
| Portuguese | charada , farsa |
| Spanish | charada |
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 charade come from?
From French charade, charrade (“prattle, idle conversation; a kind of riddle”), probably from Occitan charrada (“conversation; chatter”), from charrar (“to chat; to chatter”) + -ada. As a round of the game, originally a clipping of acting charade but now usually understood and formed as a back-formation from charades.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).