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PlainSpell

echo

/ˈɛk.oʊ/noun, verb

echo is spelled E-C-H-O: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, echo means “A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of echo is echoes or echos.

How many letters and syllables are in echo?

Letters4: E-C-H-O
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,674th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is echo?

Echo appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th 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 echo?

  • UK /ˈɛk.əʊ/
  • US /ˈɛk.oʊ/

Echo has 2 syllables (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-echo.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with echo

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

echo vs eco0 B

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with echo?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as echo from its last stressed vowel (/ɛkoʊ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: oche.

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 echo

  • echoes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • echos plural
  • echoe
  • eccho
  • echoing participle, present
  • echoed participle, past

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

What does echo mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer.

  2. 2

    An utterance repeating what has just been said.

  3. 3

    A device in verse in which a line ends with a word which recalls the sound of the last word of the preceding line.

  4. 4

    Sympathetic recognition; response; answer.

  5. 5

    Something that reflects or hearkens back to an earlier thing.

  6. 6

    An insignificant indirect result; a ripple.

  7. 7

    The displaying on the command line of the command that has just been executed.

  8. 8

    An individual discussion forum using the echomail system.

verb

  1. 1

    Of a sound or sound waves: to reflect off a surface and return; to reverberate or resound.

  2. 2

    Of a rumour, opinion, etc.: to spread or reverberate.

  3. 3

    To reflect back (a sound).

  4. 4

    To repeat (another’s speech, opinion, etc.).

    Sid echoed his father’s point of view.

  5. 5

    To repeat its input as input to some other device or system.

  6. 6

    To give the echo signal, informing one's partner about cards one holds.

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

Echo in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchécho (reflected sound)
GermanEcho, Widerhall (reflected sound), Tastaturecho, Bildschirmecho (displaying on the command line of the command…), widerhallen, wiederholen (to repeat back what another has just said)
Portugueseeco (reflected sound), ecoar (to reflect off of a surface and return)
Spanisheco (reflected sound), repercutir, repetir, hacer eco (to repeat back what another has just said)

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 echo come from?

From Middle English eccho, ecco, echo, ekko, from Medieval Latin ēccō, from Latin ēchō, from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ), from ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound”). Possibly from the same Proto-Indo-European root as sough.

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

What to look up after echo