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PlainSpell

dinner

din·ner/ˈdɪnɚ/noun, verb

dinner is spelled D-I-N-N-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (din·ner). It appears 60 times per million words in written English, the 1,724th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “diner vs dinner” about 4,400 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, dinner means “The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dinner is dinners.

How many letters and syllables are in dinner?

Letters6: D-I-N-N-E-R
Syllables2: din·ner
In writing60 times per million words; the 1,724th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

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); 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 common is dinner?

Dinner appears 60 times per million words in written English, the 1,724th 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 dinner?

  • UK /ˈdɪnə/
  • US /ˈdɪnɚ/
  • /ˈdɪnːa/

Dinner has 2 syllables, split din·ner in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-dinner.ogg, En-us-dinner.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with dinner

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

diner vs dinner4,400 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with dinner?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dinner from its last stressed vowel (/ɪnəɹ/):

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 dinner

  • dinners plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • dinnering participle, present
  • dinnered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does dinner mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

    I had an early dinner because the breakfast in this hostel is superb.

  2. 2

    An evening meal.

    I had some friends to dinner two nights ago.

  3. 3

    A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).

    It was already late for school, so the boy took his time and only arrived in the village when Heidi came home for dinner. […] "Come to the table now and eat with us. Then you can go up with Heidi, and when you bring her back at night, you c

  4. 4

    A meal given to an animal.

    Give the dog its dinner.

  5. 5

    A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.

    My family gathers twice a year, namely at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners.

  6. 6

    The food provided or consumed at any such meal.

verb

  1. 1

    To eat a dinner.

  2. 2

    To provide (someone) with a dinner.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Dinner in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdîner, souper (Cajun) (evening meal), déjeuner (midday meal)
GermanAbendessen, Dinner (evening meal), Mittagessen (midday meal), Futter, Fressen (a meal given to an animal)
Portuguesejantar, janta, ceia (evening meal), almoço (midday meal), ração (a meal given to an animal), prândio (a formal meal)
Spanishcena (evening meal), almuerzo (midday meal), banquete (a formal meal)

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 dinner come from?

From Middle English dyner, from Old French disner (“lunch”, but originally “breakfast”), (modern French dîner), from Vulgar Latin *disiūnō, *disiūnāre from Latin dis- + iēiūnō (“to break the fast”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after dinner