experience
ex·pe·ri·ence/ɪkˈspɪə.ɹi.əns/noun, verb
experience is spelled E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-C-E, 4 syllables: ex·pe·ri·ence. The wrong spelling people search most is experiance: about 840 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Experience is a noun meaning “The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any event, whether witnessed or participated in…”. The plural of experience is experiences.
How many letters and syllables are in experience?
| Letters | 10: E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ex·pe·ri·ence |
| In writing | 186 times per million words; the 546th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 8; the most searched, experiance, about 840 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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).
How do you spell experience?
Experience is spelled E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-C-E. 8 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for experience in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is experience?
Experience appears 186 times per million words in written English, the 546th 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 experience?
- UK /ɪkˈspɪə.ɹi.əns/
- British /ɪkˈspɪːɹɪjəns/
- /ɪkˈspɛːɹi.əns/
Experience has 4 syllables, split ex·pe·ri·ence in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-experience.wav, En-us-experience.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of experience
- experiences plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- experiencing participle, present
- experienced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does experience mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any event, whether witnessed or participated in; personal and direct impressions as contrasted with description or fancies; personal acquaintance; actual enjoyment or suffering.
It was an experience he would not soon forget.
- 2
An activity one has performed.
- 3
A collection of events and/or activities from which an individual or group may gather knowledge, opinions, and skills.
Virtually all employers now require jobseekers to have work experience even for entry-level roles. Many believe this will hurt companies in the long run.
- 4
The knowledge thus gathered.
- 5
A business offering in which a major focus is the way that the customer interacts with the business throughout the transaction, as opposed to only its outcome (the product or service).
- 6
Synonym of experience points
- 7
obsoleteTrial; a test or experiment.
verb
- 1
To observe certain events; undergo a certain feeling or process; or perform certain actions that may alter one or contribute to one's knowledge, opinions, or skills.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate experience?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of experience: exp., exper..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Experience in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | expérience , éprouver, vivre |
| German | Erlebnis, Erfahrung , erfahren, erleben , Praxis |
| Portuguese | experiência , experienciar, vivenciar |
| Spanish | experiencia, vivencia , experimentar, experienciar |
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 experience come from?
From Middle English experience, from Old French, from Latin experientia (“a trial, proof, experiment, experimental knowledge, experience”), from experiens, present participle of experiri (“to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo”), from ex (“out”) + peritus (“experienced, expert”), past participle of *periri (“to go through”); see expert and peril. Displaced native Old English āfandung (“experience”) and āfandian (“to experience”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).