counsel
/ˈkaʊn.səl/noun, verb
counsel is spelled C-O-U-N-S-E-L. The wrong spelling people search most is counsil: about 370 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Counsel is a noun meaning “The exchange of opinions and advice especially in legal issues; consultation”. The plural of counsel is counsels.
How many letters and syllables are in counsel?
| Letters | 7: C-O-U-N-S-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, counsil, about 370 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell counsel?
Counsel is spelled C-O-U-N-S-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for counsel in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is counsel?
Counsel appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th 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 counsel?
- /ˈkaʊn.səl/
Counsel 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: En-us-counsel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with counsel
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: council (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: counselling.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of counsel
- counsels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- counseling US, participle, present
- counselling UK, participle, present
- counseled US, participle, past
- counselled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does counsel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The exchange of opinions and advice especially in legal issues; consultation.
- 2
Exercise of judgment; prudence.
- 3
Advice; guidance.
- 4
Deliberate purpose; design; intent; scheme; plan.
- 5
A lawyer, as in King's Counsel (KC) or Queen's Counsel (QC).
verb
- 1
To give advice, especially professional advice, to (somebody).
The lawyer counselled his client to remain silent.
- 2
To recommend (a course of action).
I would counsel prudence in this matter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Counsel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | conseil , expertise , plan, projet , conseiller |
| German | Beratung , Rat, Ratschlag , Anwalt, Anwältin |
| Portuguese | consulta , conselho , aconselhar , advogado |
| Spanish | consulta , consejo, asesoramiento , abogado |
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 counsel come from?
From Middle English counseil, conseil, from Old French conseil, from Latin cōnsilium, of unknown origin but possibly from either com- + calō (via a phonetic variant of concilium) or cōnsulō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).