despite
/dɪˈspaɪt/preposition, noun
despite is spelled D-E-S-P-I-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is dispite: about 280 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Despite is a preposition meaning “In spite of, notwithstanding”.
How many letters and syllables are in despite?
| Letters | 7: D-E-S-P-I-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 100 times per million words; the 1,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, dispite, about 280 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people 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); 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 do you spell despite?
Despite is spelled D-E-S-P-I-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for despite in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is despite?
Despite appears 100 times per million words in written English, the 1,076th 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 despite?
- UK /dɪˈspaɪt/
Despite has 2 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-despite.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with despite
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 despite?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as despite from its last stressed vowel (/aɪt/, British pronunciation):
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 despite
- despites plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- despiting participle, present
- despited participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does despite mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
preposition
- 1
In spite of, notwithstanding.
Despite being a near-mirror image my of right, my left hand is terrible at these stuff.
noun
- 1
obsoleteDisdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of hel; Wherof hereafter, I thinke for to write,
- 2
archaicAction or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
- 3
Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Despite in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in spite of:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | en dépit de, malgré |
| German | trotz |
| Portuguese | a despeito de, apesar de, não obstante |
| Spanish | pese a, maguer |
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 despite come from?
The noun is derived from Middle English despit, dispit, from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). The preposition is derived from Middle English dispit, itself derived from the phrase in dispit of (in despite of). Compare typologically Russian несмотря́ на (nesmotrjá na) (< смотре́ть (smotrétʹ)); невзира́я на (nevzirája na) (< взира́ть (vzirátʹ)), презре́в (prezrév) (< презре́ть (prezrétʹ) <~ зреть (zretʹ)) (compare despite–despise relation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).