development
/dɪˈvɛl.əp.mənt/noun
development is spelled D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T. The wrong spelling people search most is devlopment: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Development is a noun meaning “The process of developing; growth, directed change”. The plural of development is developments.
How many letters and syllables are in development?
| Letters | 11: D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 204 times per million words; the 494th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 6; the most searched, devlopment, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell development?
Development is spelled D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T. 6 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure.
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 development?
Development appears 204 times per million words in written English, the 494th 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 development?
- US /dɪˈvɛl.əp.mənt/
- /ˈɖeʋᵊ.ləp.menʈ/
- /ɖɪˈʋɛː.ləp.menʈ/
Development has 4 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-development.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of development
- developments plural
- developement
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does development mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The process of developing; growth, directed change.
The development of this story has been slow.
- 2
The process by which a mature multicellular organism or part of an organism is produced by the addition of new cells.
The organism has reached a crucial stage in its development.
- 3
Something which has developed.
Our news team brings you the latest developments.
- 4
A project consisting of one or more commercial or residential buildings.
- 5
The building of such a project.
- 6
The application of new ideas to practical problems (cf. research).
Our development department has produced three new adhesives this year.
- 7
The active placement of the pieces, or the process of achieving it.
White's development is good, but black's has been hampered by the pawn on e5.
- 8
The process by in which previous material is transformed and restated.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate development?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of development: Dev., dev, dev., devt..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Development in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | développement |
| German | Entwicklung |
| Portuguese | desenvolvimento |
| Spanish | desarrollo, desenvolvimiento , acontecimiento, novedad, cambio |
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 development come from?
From French développement, from Old French desvelopemens (“unrolling”). By surface analysis, develop + -ment. First attested in 1756.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).