commensalism
com·men·sal·ism/kəˈmɛnsəˌlɪzm̩/noun
commensalism is spelled C-O-M-M-E-N-S-A-L-I-S-M: 12 letters and 4 syllables (com·men·sal·ism). It appears about once in every 56 million words in written English, the 234,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, commensalism means “A sharing of the same environment by two organisms where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. An example is barnacles on whales” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of commensalism is commensalisms.
How many letters and syllables are in commensalism?
| Letters | 12: C-O-M-M-E-N-S-A-L-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: com·men·sal·ism |
| In writing | about once in every 56 million words; the 234,209th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is commensalism?
Commensalism appears about once in every 56 million words in written English, the 234,209th 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 commensalism?
- /kəˈmɛnsəˌlɪzm̩/
Commensalism has 4 syllables, split com·men·sal·ism in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of commensalism
- commensalisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does commensalism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sharing of the same environment by two organisms where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. An example is barnacles on whales.
- 2
The act of eating together; table fellowship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Commensalism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sharing of the same environment:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Kommensalismus |
| Portuguese | comensalismo |
| Spanish | comensalismo |
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 commensalism come from?
From commensal + -ism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).