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PlainSpell

employ

/ɪmˈplɔɪ/verb, noun

employ is spelled E-M-P-L-O-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, employ means “To retain (someone) as an employee” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in employ?

Letters6: E-M-P-L-O-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 employ?

Employ appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd 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 employ?

  • /ɪmˈplɔɪ/
  • /ɛmˈplɔɪ/

Employ 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-employ.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-employ.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of employ

  • employs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • employing participle, present
  • employed participle, past

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

What does employ mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To retain (someone) as an employee.

    Our company employs hundreds of people.

  2. 2

    rareTo provide (someone) with a new job; to hire.

    Yesterday our local garage employed a new mechanic.

  3. 3

    To use (someone or something) for a job or task.

    The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.

  4. 4

    To make busy; to preoccupy.

noun

  1. 1

    The state of being an employee; employment.

    The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.

  2. 2

    archaicAn occupation.

  3. 3

    obsoleteThe act of employing someone or making use of something; employment.

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

Employ in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchemployer, embaucher, recruter (to give someone work), utiliser (to put into use), emploi (the state of being employed)
Germaneinstellen, anstellen, anwerben (to give someone work), einsetzen, benutzen, verwenden (to put into use)
Portuguesecontratar (to give someone work), empregar (to put into use), emprego (the state of being employed)
Spanishemplear (to give someone work), empleo (the state of being employed)

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 employ come from?

From late Middle English emploien, imploien, emplien (“to apply to a specific purpose”), from Anglo-Norman emploier, Old French emploiier (“to entangle, fabricate, to make use of”), ultimately from Latin implicāre (“to infold, entangle, involve, engage”), from in- (“in”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of imply and implicate.

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

What to look up after employ