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PlainSpell

crime

/kɹaɪm/noun, verb

crime is spelled C-R-I-M-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 78 times per million words in written English, the 1,369th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, crime means “A specific act committed in violation of the law, especially criminal law” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of crime is crimes.

How many letters and syllables are in crime?

Letters5: C-R-I-M-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing78 times per million words; the 1,369th 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 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 crime?

Crime appears 78 times per million words in written English, the 1,369th 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 crime?

  • US /kɹaɪm/

Crime has one syllable (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-crime.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with crime?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as crime from its last stressed vowel (/aɪm/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: merci.

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 crime

  • crimes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • criming participle, present
  • crimed participle, past

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

What does crime mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A specific act committed in violation of the law, especially criminal law.

    the commission of a crime

  2. 2

    Any great sin or wickedness; iniquity.

    Those methods of saving money should be a crime.

  3. 3

    obsoleteThat which occasions crime.

  4. 4

    Criminal acts collectively.

    an effort by the police to tackle crime in the city

  5. 5

    The habit or practice of committing crimes.

    Crime doesn’t pay.

verb

  1. 1

    UKTo subject to disciplinary punishment.

  2. 2

    To commit crime.

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

Crime in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdélit m crime, délinquer (specific act committed in violation of the law)
GermanStraftat (specific act committed in violation of the law), Verbrechen (practice or habit of committing crimes), Kriminalität (collective criminal acts)
Portuguesecrime, delinquir (specific act committed in violation of the law), criminalidade (practice or habit of committing crimes)
Spanishdelito, crimen, delinquir (specific act committed in violation of the law), delincuencia (practice or habit of committing crimes), criminalidad (collective criminal acts)

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 crime come from?

From Middle English cryme, crime, from Old French crime, crimne, from Latin crīmen. Displaced native Old English firen.

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

What to look up after crime