December
/dɪˈsɛm.bɚ/proper noun
December is spelled D-E-C-E-M-B-E-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 117 times per million words in written English, the 904th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a proper noun, December means “The twelfth and last month of the Gregorian calendar, following November and preceding the January of the following year, containing the southern…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in December?
| Letters | 8: D-E-C-E-M-B-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 117 times per million words; the 904th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 December?
December appears 117 times per million words in written English, the 904th 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 December?
- UK /dɪˈsɛmbə/
- US /dɪˈsɛm.bɚ/
- /ɖɪˈsɛmbə(r)/
December 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-December.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with December?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as December from its last stressed vowel (/ɛmbəɹ/):
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 December
- Dec.
- Dec
- DEC
- Dc
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does December mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
proper noun
- 1
The twelfth and last month of the Gregorian calendar, following November and preceding the January of the following year, containing the southern solstice.
Holonyms: calendar year; year
- 2
rareA female given name transferred from the month name [in turn from English].
- 3
A surname.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
December in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense twelfth month of the Gregorian calendar:
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 December come from?
From Middle English December, Decembre, from Old French decembre, from Latin december (“tenth month”), from Latin decem (“ten”); + Latin -ber, from -bris, an adjectival suffix; December was the tenth month in the Roman calendar.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).