detect
/dɪˈtɛkt/verb
detect is spelled D-E-T-E-C-T. The wrong spelling people search most is dectect: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 52 of all searches for the word. Detect is a verb meaning “To discover or notice, especially by careful search, examination, or probing”.
How many letters and syllables are in detect?
| Letters | 6: D-E-T-E-C-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, dectect, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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 detect?
Detect is spelled D-E-T-E-C-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 52 of the searches for detect 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 detect?
Detect appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th 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 detect?
- UK /dɪˈtɛkt/
Detect 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-detect.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with detect?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as detect from its last stressed vowel (/ɛkt/, 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 detect
- detects present, singular, he/she/it
- detecting participle, present
- detected participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does detect mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To discover or notice, especially by careful search, examination, or probing.
The forensic examiners detected tiny traces of the poison on the suspect's gloves.
- 2
informalTo work or solve cases as a detective.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteDetected.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Detect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing:
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 detect come from?
From Latin detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere (“to uncover or disclose”), from de- + tegere (“to cover”); see tegument, tile, thatch. Sense "to work or solve cases as a detective" a back-formation from detective.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).