engram
/ˈɛnˌɡɹæm/noun
engram is spelled E-N-G-R-A-M: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 85,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, engram means “A postulated physical or biochemical change in neural tissue that represents a memory” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of engram is engrams.
How many letters and syllables are in engram?
| Letters | 6: E-N-G-R-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 85,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 engram?
Engram appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 85,266th 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 engram?
- /ˈɛnˌɡɹæm/
- /ˈɛŋˌɡɹæm/
Engram 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-engram.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with engram
Sounds like: n-gram (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with engram?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as engram.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: german, manger.
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 engram
- engrams plural
- engramme
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does engram mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A postulated physical or biochemical change in neural tissue that represents a memory.
- 2
A painful, negative mental image representing a past event.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Engram in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense postulated change in neural tissue:
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 engram come from?
Borrowed from German Engramm which was coined by German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon in 1904. First attested in English in 1921 (see quotation below). Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + γράμμα (grámma, “writing, picture”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).