drain
/dɹiːn/noun, verb
drain is spelled D-R-A-I-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, drain means “A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of drain is drains.
How many letters and syllables are in drain?
| Letters | 5: D-R-A-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is drain?
Drain appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th 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 drain?
- /dɹeɪn/
- US /dɹiːn/
Drain has one syllable (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-drain.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-drain.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with drain?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as drain from its last stressed vowel (/in/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: nadir, dinar.
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 drain
- drains plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- dreen
- draining participle, present
- drained participle, past
- drein
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does drain mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CanadaUSA conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
The drain in the kitchen sink is clogged.
- 2
UKAn access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
- 3
A natural or artificial watercourse which drains a tract of land.
;;Saganing Drain, Vermuyden's Drain, the South Drain river, Najafgarh drain
- 4
Something consuming resources and providing nothing in return.
That rental property is a drain on our finances.
- 5
vulgarAn act of urination.
- 6
One terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
- 7
An outhole.
- 8
UKdatedslangA drink.
verb
- 1
To lose liquid.
The clogged sink drained slowly.
- 2
To flow gradually.
The water of low ground drains off.
- 3
To cause liquid to flow out of.
Please drain the sink. It’s full of dirty water.
- 4
To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.
- 5
To deplete of energy or resources.
The stress of this job is really draining me.
- 6
To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
- 7
obsoleteTo filter.
- 8
To fall off the bottom of the playfield.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Drain in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | drain, bonde , hémorragie, gouffre , drainer , déshydrater |
| German | Abfluss , trocknen, trockenlegen , entwässern, abfließen lassen, ablassen |
| Portuguese | dreno, ralo , secar , drenar, escoar |
| Spanish | desagüe, drenaje, desaguador, desaguadero, dren, husillo |
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 drain come from?
Inherited from Middle English *dreinen, from Old English drēahnian, from Proto-West Germanic *drauhnōn, from Proto-Germanic *drauhnōną, from *draugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ-, from *dʰer-. Akin to Old English drūgian (“to dry up”), Old English drūgaþ (“dryness, drought”), Old English drȳġe (“dry”). More at dry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).