christening
/ˈkɹɪs.ə.nɪŋ/noun, verb
christening is spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-I-N-G: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, christening means “The Christian sacrament at which someone, usually a child, is baptized and given a Christian name” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of christening is christenings.
How many letters and syllables are in christening?
| Letters | 11: C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is christening?
Christening appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th 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 christening?
- /ˈkɹɪs.ə.nɪŋ/
Christening has 3 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-christening.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of christening
- christenings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does christening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The Christian sacrament at which someone, usually a child, is baptized and given a Christian name.
- 2
Any instance of someone's or something's being christened.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of christen
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate christening?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of christening: chr..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Christening in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Christian sacrament:
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 christening come from?
From Middle English cristenynge, from Old English cristnung; compare christen + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).