Skip to main content
PlainSpell

extend

ex·tend/ɛkˈstɛnd/verb

extend is spelled E-X-T-E-N-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables (ex·tend). It appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 4,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, extend means “To increase in extent” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in extend?

Letters6: E-X-T-E-N-D
Syllables2: ex·tend
In writing22 times per million words; the 4,015th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is extend?

Extend appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 4,015th 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 extend?

  • /ɛkˈstɛnd/

Extend has 2 syllables, split ex·tend in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-extend.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of extend

  • extends present, singular, he/she/it
  • extending participle, present
  • extended participle, past

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

What does extend mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To increase in extent.

  2. 2

    To possess a certain extent; to cover an amount of space.

    The desert extended for miles in all directions.

  3. 3

    To cause to increase in extent.

  4. 4

    To cause to last for a longer period of time.

  5. 5

    To straighten (a limb).

  6. 6

    To bestow; to offer; to impart; to apply.

    to extend sympathy to the suffering

  7. 7

    To increase in quantity by weakening or adulterating additions.

    There's little stew left, but we can always extend it by adding more potatoes.

  8. 8

    UKTo value, as lands taken by a writ of extent in satisfaction of a debt; to assign by writ of extent.

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

Extend in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchétendre (to increase in extent), prolonger (to cause to last for a longer period of time)
Germanerweitern (to increase in extent), ausweiten (to cause to last for a longer period of time), ausdehnen (to cause to increase in extent), ausstrecken (to straighten a limb)
Portugueseestender, ampliar (to increase in extent)
Spanishextenderse, ampliarse (to increase in extent), ampliar, prorrogar, aplazar (to cause to last for a longer period of time)

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 extend come from?

From Middle English extenden, from Anglo-Norman extendre, estendre, from Latin extendō (“to stretch out”).

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

What to look up after extend