delayed
de·layed/dəˈleɪd/adjective, verb
delayed is spelled D-E-L-A-Y-E-D: 7 letters and 2 syllables (de·layed). It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, delayed means “Happening later than is usual, expected, or desired” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in delayed?
| Letters | 7: D-E-L-A-Y-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: de·layed |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is delayed?
Delayed appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,121st 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 delayed?
- /dəˈleɪd/
- /diːˈleɪ.dəd/
Delayed has 2 syllables, split de·layed in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-delayed.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does delayed mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Happening later than is usual, expected, or desired.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of delay
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Delayed in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense adjective:
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.