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PlainSpell

drizzle

driz·zle/ˈdɹɪzəl/verb, noun

drizzle is spelled D-R-I-Z-Z-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (driz·zle). It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, drizzle means “To rain lightly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in drizzle?

Letters7: D-R-I-Z-Z-L-E
Syllables2: driz·zle
In writing1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 drizzle?

Drizzle appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th 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 drizzle?

  • /ˈdɹɪzəl/
  • [ˈdɹɪzl̩]

Drizzle has 2 syllables, split driz·zle in writing.

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

Forms of drizzle

  • drizzles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • drizzling participle, present
  • drizzled participle, past

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

What does drizzle mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To rain lightly.

    We had planned a picnic for Joe's birthday, but it ended up drizzling all day.

  2. 2

    To shed slowly in minute drops or particles.

  3. 3

    To pour slowly and evenly, especially oil or honey in cooking.

    The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle olive oil on it.

  4. 4

    To cover by pouring in this manner.

    The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle it in olive oil.

  5. 5

    slangTo urinate.

    She'll be right back, had to drizzle before we leave.

  6. 6

    datedTo carry out parfilage, the process of unravelling.

noun

  1. 1

    Light rain.

  2. 2

    Very small, numerous, and uniformly dispersed water drops, mist, or sprinkle. Unlike fog droplets, drizzle falls to the ground.

    No longer pouring, the rain outside slowed down to a faint drizzle.

  3. 3

    slangWater.

    Stop drinking all of my drizzle!

  4. 4

    Something that is drizzled.

  5. 5

    A cake onto which icing, honey or syrup has been drizzled in an artistic manner.

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

Drizzle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbruiner, pleuvioter, grainasser (to rain lightly), mouiller (to pour slowly and evenly), bruine, crachin (light rain)
Germannieseln (to rain lightly), träufeln (to pour slowly and evenly), Nieselregen, Sprühregen (light rain)
Portuguesechuviscar, garoar (to rain lightly), chuvisco, garoa, caruja (light rain)
Spanishlloviznar, chispear, pringar, pintear, garuar (to rain lightly), rociar (to pour slowly and evenly)

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 drizzle come from?

Perhaps a back-formation from dryseling, a dissimilated variant of Middle English drysning (“a falling of dew”), from Northumbrian Old English drysnan (“to extinguish”), related to Old English drēosan (“to fall, to decline”), making it cognate to modern English droze and drowse. Compare also dialectal Swedish drösla.

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

What to look up after drizzle