cosmetics

/kɑzˈmɛt.ɪks/noun

cosmetics is spelled C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cosmetics means “Preparations applied externally to change or enhance the beauty of skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cosmetics?

Letters	9: C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C-S
Syllables	3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	genetics dianetics memetics

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is cosmetics?

Cosmetics appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form in the list.

cosmetics0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cosmetics?

UK /kɒzˈmɛt.ɪks/
US /kɑzˈmɛt.ɪks/
US [kɑzˈmɛɾ.ɪks]

Cosmetics 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cosmetics.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cosmetics?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cosmetics from its last stressed vowel (/ɛtɪks/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

What does cosmetics mean?

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

noun

1
Preparations applied externally to change or enhance the beauty of skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes.
Near-synonyms: makeup, make-up; beauty products
2
The way something looks; superficial appearance.
Near-synonym: cosmesis
3
The study of such products.

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

Cosmetics in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	cosmétique (preparations to change or enhance the beauty)
German	Kosmetika (preparations to change or enhance the beauty), Kosmetik (study of such products)
Portuguese	cosméticos (preparations to change or enhance the beauty), cosmética (study of such products)
Spanish	cosmético, cosméticos (preparations to change or enhance the beauty), cosmética (study of such products)

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 cosmetics come from?

From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), from κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), an adjective of κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”).