encephalitis
/ɛnˌsɛfəˈlaɪtɪs/noun
encephalitis is spelled E-N-C-E-P-H-A-L-I-T-I-S: 12 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,943rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, encephalitis means “Inflammation of the brain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of encephalitis is encephalitides.
How many letters and syllables are in encephalitis?
| Letters | 12: E-N-C-E-P-H-A-L-I-T-I-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,943rd 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 encephalitis?
Encephalitis appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,943rd 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 encephalitis?
- /ɛnˌsɛfəˈlaɪtɪs/
- /ɛnˌkɛfəˈlaɪtɪs/
Encephalitis has 5 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-encephalitis.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of encephalitis
- encephalitides plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does encephalitis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Inflammation of the brain.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Encephalitis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense inflammation of the brain:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | encéphalite |
| German | Enzephalitis, Gehirnentzündung |
| Portuguese | encefalite |
| Spanish | encefalitis |
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 encephalitis come from?
From encephal- + -itis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).