death
/dɛθ/noun
death is spelled D-E-A-T-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 251 times per million words in written English, the 387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, death means “The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of death is deaths.
How many letters and syllables are in death?
| Letters | 5: D-E-A-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 251 times per million words; the 387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| 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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is death?
Death appears 251 times per million words in written English, the 387th 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 death?
- /dɛθ/
- [dɛθ]
- /diːθ/
Death has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-death.ogg, En-uk-death.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with death
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with death?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as death.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hated.
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 death
- deaths plural
- deeeath
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does death mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return to an inert, non-living state.
My grandfather died/met a violent death, which saddened the whole family.
- 2
Execution (in the judicial sense).
The serial killer was sentenced to death.
- 3
The personification of death as a (usually male) hooded figure with a scythe; the Grim Reaper.
When death walked in, a chill spread through the room.
- 4
The collapse or end of something.
England scored a goal at the death to even the score at one all.
- 5
A cause of great stress, exhaustion, embarrassment, or another negative condition (for someone).
This bake sale is going to be the death of me!
- 6
Spiritual lifelessness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Death in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mort, décès , camarde , la mort, l'arcane sans nom |
| German | Tod, Exitus , der Tod , Untergang |
| Portuguese | morte, falecimento, óbito , Morte, arcano sem nome |
| Spanish | muerte, éxitus , Muerte , la muerte, el arcano de la muerte |
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 death come from?
From Middle English deth, deeth, from Old English dēaþ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰówtus. More at die.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).