Skip to main content
PlainSpell

confine

/kənˈfaɪn/verb, noun

confine is spelled C-O-N-F-I-N-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,974th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, confine means “To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in confine?

Letters7: C-O-N-F-I-N-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 31,974th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 confine?

Confine appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,974th 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 confine?

  • /kənˈfaɪn/

As a noun (“A boundary or limit”): /kənˈfaɪn/, /ˈkɒnfaɪn/, /ˈkɑnfaɪn/.

Confine 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-confine_(verb).wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-confine_(noun).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of confine

  • confines present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • confining participle, present
  • confined participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does confine mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo have a common boundary with; to border on.

  2. 2

    To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds.

noun

  1. 1

    A boundary or limit.

  2. 2

    Confinement, imprisonment.

    She says for you to bring her a slice of cake, A bottle of the best wine, And not to forget the fair young lady That did release you from close confine.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Confine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchconfiner (to restrict; to keep within bounds), limite (limit)
Germanbeschränken (to restrict; to keep within bounds), Begrenzung (limit)
Portugueseconfinar (to restrict; to keep within bounds), confim (limit)
Spanishconfinar, encorsetar (to restrict; to keep within bounds), confín, raya (limit)

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 confine come from?

From Middle French confiner, from confins, from Medieval Latin confines, from Latin confinium, from confīnis.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after confine