cylinder
/ˈsɪləndɚ/noun, verb
cylinder is spelled C-Y-L-I-N-D-E-R. The wrong spelling people search most is cyclinder: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 70 of all searches for the word. Cylinder is a noun meaning “A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the…”. The plural of cylinder is cylinders.
How many letters and syllables are in cylinder?
| Letters | 8: C-Y-L-I-N-D-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cyclinder, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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 cylinder?
Cylinder is spelled C-Y-L-I-N-D-E-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 70 of the searches for cylinder 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 cylinder?
Cylinder appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th 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 cylinder?
- UK /ˈsɪlɪndə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈsɪləndɚ/
- US [ˈsɪlɪ̈ndɚ]
Cylinder 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: En-us-cylinder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cylinder
- cylinders plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cylindering participle, present
- cylindered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cylinder mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve.
When the two-dimensional curve is a circle, the cylinder is called a circular cylinder. When the axis is perpendicular to the plane of the curve, the cylinder is called a right cylinder. In non-mathematical usage, both right and circular ar
- 2
A solid figure bounded by a cylinder and two parallel planes intersecting the cylinder.
- 3
Any object in the form of a circular cylinder.
- 4
A cylindrical cavity or chamber in a mechanism, such as the counterpart to a piston found in a piston-driven engine.
- 5
The space in which a piston travels inside a reciprocating engine or pump.
- 6
A container in the form of a cylinder with rounded ends for storing pressurized gas; a gas cylinder.
- 7
An early form of phonograph recording, made on a wax cylinder.
- 8
The part of a revolver that contains chambers for the cartridges.
verb
- 1
To calender; to press (paper, etc.) between rollers to make it glossy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate cylinder?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of cylinder: cyl..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cylinder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cylindre , vérin |
| German | Zylinder , Brennkammer |
| Portuguese | cilindro , botijão, botija |
| Spanish | cilindro |
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 cylinder come from?
From Middle French chilindre, cylindre, from Latin cylindrus, from Ancient Greek κύλινδρος (kúlindros), from κυλίνδω (kulíndō) "I roll or wallow" (intransitive). Doublet of calander and calender.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).