concubine
/ˈkɑŋkjəbaɪn/noun
concubine is spelled C-O-N-C-U-B-I-N-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, concubine means “A sexual partner, especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of concubine is concubines.
How many letters and syllables are in concubine?
| Letters | 9: C-O-N-C-U-B-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,176th 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 concubine?
Concubine appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th 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 concubine?
- US /ˈkɑŋkjəbaɪn/
Concubine 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-us-concubine.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-concubine.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of concubine
- concubines plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does concubine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sexual partner, especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married.
- 2
A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife.
- 3
A slave-girl or woman, kept for instance in a harem, who is held for sexual service.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Concubine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife:
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 concubine come from?
From Middle English concubine (first attested 1250–1300), from Anglo-Norman concubine, from Latin concubīna, equivalent to concub- (variant stem of concumbō (“to lie together”)) + feminine suffix -īna.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).