degeneracy
/dɪˈd͡ʒɛnəɹəsi/noun
degeneracy is spelled D-E-G-E-N-E-R-A-C-Y: 10 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, degeneracy means “The state of being degenerate (in all senses)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of degeneracy is degeneracies.
How many letters and syllables are in degeneracy?
| Letters | 10: D-E-G-E-N-E-R-A-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 45,947th 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 degeneracy?
Degeneracy appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th 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 degeneracy?
- US /dɪˈd͡ʒɛnəɹəsi/
- US /dɪˈd͡ʒɛnɹəsi/
- Australia /dɪˈd͡ʒenəɹəsi/
Degeneracy has 5 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-degeneracy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of degeneracy
- degeneracies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does degeneracy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state of being degenerate (in all senses).
- 2
The ability of one part of the brain to take over another's function without being overexerted.
- 3
A limiting case of a class of objects which appears to be qualitatively different from (and usually simpler than) the rest of the class.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does degeneracy come from?
From degener(ate) + -acy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).