drift
/dɹɪft/noun, verb
drift is spelled D-R-I-F-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, drift means “Anything driven at random” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of drift is drifts.
How many letters and syllables are in drift?
| Letters | 5: D-R-I-F-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is drift?
Drift appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th 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 drift?
- /dɹɪft/
Drift 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-drift.ogg, En-au-drift.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of drift
- drifts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- drifting participle, present
- drifted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does drift mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Anything driven at random.
- 2
A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.
- 3
The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
- 4
The animals being moved in a drive, as of cattle, goats, horses, pigs or sheep.
- 5
A group of birds moving together.
- 6
A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
It is there seen that at a distance from the valleys of streams, the old glacial drift usually comes to the surface, and often rises into considerable eminences.
- 7
A collection of logs floating down a river.
- 8
Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
verb
- 1
To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
The boat drifted away from the shore.
- 2
To move haphazardly without any destination.
He drifted from town to town, never settling down.
- 3
To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
This car tends to drift left at high speeds.
- 4
To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
- 5
To drive into heaps.
A current of wind drifts snow or sand
- 6
To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
Snow or sand drifts.
- 7
USTo make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.
- 8
To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Drift in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dérive , dériver , errer , dévier |
| German | Drift , driften, treiben , irren, ziellos ziehen, ziellos wandern |
| Portuguese | deriva, derrapagem , derivar , derrapar |
| Spanish | deriva, derrape , derivar, ir a la deriva, vagar, devalar |
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 drift come from?
From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).