Skip to main content
PlainSpell

counter

count·er/ˈkaʊn.tɚ/noun, adverb, verb, adjective

counter is spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (count·er). It appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, counter means “One who counts” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of counter is counters.

How many letters and syllables are in counter?

Letters7: C-O-U-N-T-E-R
Syllables2: count·er
In writing36 times per million words; the 2,669th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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

How common is counter?

Counter appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th 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 counter?

  • UK /ˈkaʊn.tə/
  • US /ˈkaʊn.tɚ/
  • US [ˈkaʊ.ɾ̃ɚ]

Counter has 2 syllables, split count·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-counter.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with counter?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as counter from its last stressed vowel (/aʊntəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: recount, trounce.

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).

Forms of counter

  • counters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • countering participle, present
  • countered participle, past

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

What does counter mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    One who counts.

    He's only 16 months, but is already a good counter – he can count to 100.

  2. 2

    A reckoner; someone who collects data by counting; an enumerator.

  3. 3

    An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc.

    He rolled a six on the dice, so moved his counter forward six spaces.

  4. 4

    A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.

  5. 5

    A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count.

  6. 6

    A hit counter.

  7. 7

    A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted.

    He put his money on the counter, and the shopkeeper put it in the till.

  8. 8

    A shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured.

  9. 9

    Something opposite or contrary to something else.

  10. 10

    A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.

    Always know a counter to any hold you try against your opponent.

  11. 11

    The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline, below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.

  12. 12

    The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot).

  13. 13

    Alternative form of contra Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to countertenor.

  14. 14

    The breast of a horse; that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.

  15. 15

    The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph.

  16. 16

    obsoleteAn encounter.

adverb

  1. 1

    Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction.

  2. 2

    In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.

    a hound that runs counter

verb

  1. 1

    To contradict, oppose.

  2. 2

    To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.

  3. 3

    To take action in response to; to respond.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo encounter.

adjective

  1. 1

    Contrary or opposing

    His carrying a knife was counter to my plan.

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

How do you abbreviate counter?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of counter: ctr..

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

Counter in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcontre- (in opposition to), compteur (one who counts), guichet, comptoir (table or board on which business is transacted), contre (contrary, in opposition; in an opposite…)
Germangegen-, kontra- (in opposition to), Zähler, Zählerin (one who counts), Theke (table or board on which business is transacted), Zählwerk (object used in counting)
Portuguesecontra- (in opposition to), contador (one who counts), balcão (table or board on which business is transacted), contra (contrary, in opposition; in an opposite…), bancada (kitchen surface for food preparation)
Spanishcontra- (in opposition to), contador (one who counts), mostrador, taquilla, counter (table or board on which business is transacted), encimera (kitchen surface for food preparation)

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 counter come from?

Inherited from Middle English countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computātōrium, from Latin computō, equivalent to count + -er. Doublet of cantore, computer, and kontor.

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

What to look up after counter