el
/ˈɛl/noun, number, article
el is spelled E-L: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting El, the name). As a noun, el means “The name of the Latin script letter L/l” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of el is els.
How many letters and syllables are in el?
| Letters | 2: E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 36 times per million words; the 2,669th 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 el?
El appears 36 times per million words in written English, the 2,669th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes El, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce el?
- /ˈɛl/
- [ɛɫ]
El 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-el.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of el
- els plural
- ell
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does el mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The name of the Latin script letter L/l.
- 2
USAn elevated railway, especially for specific systems such as the metro in Chicago (informal)
- 3
The name of the Cyrillic script letter Л / л
number
- 1
The cardinal number occurring after dek and before do in a duodecimal system. Written ↋, decimal value 11.
article
- 1
informalThe (sometimes where "the" would not occur in normal English).
noun
- 1
Initialism of electroluminescence.
- 2
Initialism of encephalitis lethargica (von Economo disease, sleepy sickness).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
El in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense name of the letter L, l:
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 el come from?
From Middle English, from Old English el, from Latin el (the name of the letter L).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).