contaminant
con·tam·i·nant/kənˈtamɪnənt/noun
contaminant is spelled C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-A-N-T: 11 letters and 4 syllables (con·tam·i·nant). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, contaminant means “That which contaminates; an impurity; foreign matter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of contaminant is contaminants.
How many letters and syllables are in contaminant?
| Letters | 11: C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: con·tam·i·nant |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 45,947th 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 contaminant?
Contaminant appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th 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 contaminant?
- /kənˈtamɪnənt/
Contaminant has 4 syllables, split con·tam·i·nant in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-contaminant.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of contaminant
- contaminants plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does contaminant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
That which contaminates; an impurity; foreign matter.
Put the lid on the jar to keep contaminants out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Contaminant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense that which contaminates:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | contaminante |
| Spanish | contaminante |
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 contaminant come from?
Borrowed from French contaminant, present participle of contaminer (“to contaminate”), from Latin contāmināre. By surface analysis, contaminate + -ant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).