dreidel
drei·del/ˈdɹeɪdl̩/noun
dreidel is spelled D-R-E-I-D-E-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables (drei·del). It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dreidel means “A four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dreidel is dreidels.
How many letters and syllables are in dreidel?
| Letters | 7: D-R-E-I-D-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: drei·del |
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is dreidel?
Dreidel appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th 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 dreidel?
- US /ˈdɹeɪdl̩/
Dreidel has 2 syllables, split drei·del in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dreidel.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dreidel
- dreidels plural
- draydel
- dreydel
- draydl
- dreidl
- dreydl
- dreidle
- dreydle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dreidel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to play a traditional game during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
- 2
A gambling game played using this top.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dreidel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense four-sided spinning top:
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 dreidel come from?
Borrowed from Yiddish דריידל (dreydl, “dreidel; spinning top”), probably a blend of דרייען (dreyen, “to spin; to turn; to twist”) + טרענדל (trendl, “(dated) dreidel; spinning top”). דרייען (dreyen) is derived from Middle High German dræn, from Old High German drāen (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to turn; to rub; to drill, pierce”); and טרענדל (trendl) is derived from Middle High German trendel (“spinning top”), from Proto-Germanic *trandijaną (“to revolve, spin”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).