custodian
/kəˈstoʊdiən/noun
custodian is spelled C-U-S-T-O-D-I-A-N: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, custodian means “A person entrusted with the custody or care of something or someone; a caretaker or keeper” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of custodian is custodians.
How many letters and syllables are in custodian?
| Letters | 9: C-U-S-T-O-D-I-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is custodian?
Custodian appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th 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 custodian?
- /kəˈstoʊdiən/
Custodian has 4 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-custodian.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of custodian
- custodians plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does custodian mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person entrusted with the custody or care of something or someone; a caretaker or keeper.
After their parents' death, their aunt became the children's custodian.
- 2
An administrator.
- 3
A gaolkeeper.
- 4
A protector or guard.
- 5
CanadaUSA janitor; a cleaner.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Custodian in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense 1. a person entrusted with the custody or care:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gardien, gardienne |
| German | Hüter, Hüterin, Kustos, Schützer, Schützerin, Vormund |
| Portuguese | guardião, zelador |
| Spanish | custodio, custodia, depositario, depositaria |
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 custodian come from?
From a shortening of Latin custōdiānātus, from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”). By surface analysis, custody + -ian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).