colander
/ˈkɑləndɚ/noun
colander is spelled C-O-L-A-N-D-E-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 61,481st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, colander means “A bowl-shaped kitchen utensil with holes in it used for draining food that has been cooking in water, such as pasta” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of colander is colanders.
How many letters and syllables are in colander?
| Letters | 8: C-O-L-A-N-D-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 61,481st 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 colander?
Colander appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 61,481st 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 colander?
- UK /ˈkɒləndə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈkɑləndɚ/
- US /ˈkɔləndɚ/
Colander 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: En-uk-colander.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of colander
- colanders plural
- cullender
- collinder
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does colander mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A bowl-shaped kitchen utensil with holes in it used for draining food that has been cooking in water, such as pasta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Colander in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a bowl-shaped kitchen utensil with holes in it used for draining food such as pa:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | passoire |
| German | Sieb, Küchensieb, Abtropfsieb, Seiher, Durchschlag |
| Portuguese | escorredor, passador, coador |
| Spanish | colador, escurridor, coladero, zafra |
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 colander come from?
From Middle English colyndore, coloundour, colonur, variants of Middle English culdor, culdore, culatre, ultimately from Latin cōlātōrium, from Latin cōlum. Cognates include Italian colino and Spanish colador.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).