detainer
noun
detainer is spelled D-E-T-A-I-N-E-R: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, detainer means “The right to keep a person, or a person's goods or property, against his will; a type of custody” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of detainer is detainers.
How many letters and syllables are in detainer?
| Letters | 8: D-E-T-A-I-N-E-R |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 106,501st 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 detainer?
Detainer appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st 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 detainer?
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-detainer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of detainer
- detainers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does detainer mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The right to keep a person, or a person's goods or property, against his will; a type of custody.
- 2
One who detains.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does detainer come from?
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman detener, from Old French detenir. By surface analysis, detain + -er (action noun suffix). First attested in the 17th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).