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PlainSpell

drone

/dɹoʊn/noun, verb

drone is spelled D-R-O-N-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, drone means “A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of drone is drones.

How many letters and syllables are in drone?

Letters5: D-R-O-N-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 drone?

Drone appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st 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 drone?

  • UK /dɹəʊn/
  • US /dɹoʊn/

Drone 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-drone.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with drone?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as drone from its last stressed vowel (/oʊn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: doner, redon.

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 drone

  • drones plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • droning participle, present
  • droned participle, past

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

What does drone mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen.

  2. 2

    archaicOne who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.

  3. 3

    One who performs menial or tedious work.

  4. 4

    Any remotely operated or autonomous vehicle for land, sea, air, or space.

    aerial drones

  5. 5

    An aircraft operated by remote control, especially an uncrewed/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

    Near-synonyms: UAV, UAS, OPV, RPV, FPV

  6. 6

    Any remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle, especially when multiple such vehicles are operated from a larger vessel.

    Near-synonyms: ROV, ROUV, UUV, AUV

  7. 7

    Any watercraft on the water's surface that is remotely operated or autonomous.

    Near-synonyms: USV (remotely operated), ASV (autonomous)

  8. 8

    Any UGV (uncrewed ground vehicle).

  9. 9

    A low-pitched hum or buzz.

  10. 10

    One of the fixed-pitch pipes on a bagpipe.

  11. 11

    A genre of music that uses repeated lengthy droning sounds.

  12. 12

    A humming or deep murmuring sound.

  13. 13

    UKslangThe drug mephedrone.

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialTo kill or destroy with a drone (unmanned aircraft), or with a missile fired by a drone.

  2. 2

    To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.

  3. 3

    To speak in a monotone.

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

Drone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfaux bourdon (male bee), drone (unmanned aircraft), bourdonner, vrombir (to produce a low-pitched hum or buzz), bourdonnement (hum or buzz), idiot utile (drudge)
GermanDrohne (male bee), brummen (to produce a low-pitched hum or buzz), Dröhnen (hum or buzz), Brummen (a low-pitched hum or buzz), Basspfeife (fixed-pitch pipe in bagpipe)
Portuguesezangão, zângão (male bee), drone (unmanned aircraft), zunir (to produce a low-pitched hum or buzz), zumbir (a low-pitched hum or buzz), falar monotonamente (to speak in a monotone way)
Spanishzángano, abejón (male bee), dron, drone (unmanned aircraft), zumbar (a low-pitched hum or buzz), dronar (Translations)

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 drone come from?

From Middle English drane, dron, drone, from Old English drān, drǣn, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drenô, *drēnuz (“drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₁n- (“bee, drone, hornet”).

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

What to look up after drone