del
/dɛl/noun, verb, symbol
del is spelled D-E-L: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, del means “The symbol ∇ used to denote the gradient operator” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of del is dels.
How many letters and syllables are in del?
| Letters | 3: D-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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 del?
Del appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd 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 del?
- /dɛl/
Del has one syllable (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-del.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with del?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as del.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: led, eld, dle.
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 del
- dels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does del mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The symbol ∇ used to denote the gradient operator.
- 2
the symbol ∂, in the context of a partial differential
- 3
obsoletea part, portion
- 4
Abbreviation of delegate.
- 5
Abbreviation of delegation.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of Delete (“key of a computer keyboard that deletes text, files, etc.”).
verb
- 1
Abbreviation of delete.
symbol
- 1
Abbreviation of Latin delineavit as seen on published artwork, identifying the original artist. Commonly seen in books and articles on topics in natural history.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Del in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense abbreviation on the delete key on a keyboard:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Entf |
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 del come from?
From delta, the symbol being an inverted delta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).