disaster
di·sas·ter/dɪˈzɑːs.təː/noun
disaster is spelled D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables (di·sas·ter). It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, disaster means “An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of disaster is disasters.
How many letters and syllables are in disaster?
| Letters | 8: D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: di·sas·ter |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is disaster?
Disaster appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd 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 disaster?
- UK /dɪˈzɑːs.təː/
- UK [dɪˈzɑːs.təː]
- /dɪˈzas.təː/
Disaster has 3 syllables, split di·sas·ter in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-disaster.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with disaster?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as disaster from its last stressed vowel (/ɑstə/, 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 disaster
- disasters plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does disaster mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.
People would suffer disasters when society's morality degenerates.
- 2
An unfortunate or unpleasant occurrence, especially one resulting from an accident or something going wrong.
- 3
An wholly unsatisfactory result caused by something going wrong or being done poorly; a flop or failure.
the cake was a disaster.
- 4
A skateboard trick involving a 180-degree ollie, landing on the center of the board with the front trucks facing towards the ramp and the back trucks over the lip. The skater then leans forwards to return in the ramp.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Disaster in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense unexpected catastrophe causing physical damage, etc:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | désastre, catastrophe |
| German | Desaster, Unglück, Katastrophe, Unheil |
| Portuguese | desastre |
| Spanish | desastre |
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 disaster come from?
From Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- + astro (“star”), from Latin astrum (“star”), from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).