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PlainSpell

extract

/ˈɛkstɹækt/noun, verb

extract is spelled E-X-T-R-A-C-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, extract means “Something that is extracted or drawn out” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of extract is extracts.

How many letters and syllables are in extract?

Letters7: E-X-T-R-A-C-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 6,884th 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 extract?

Extract appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th 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 extract?

  • /ˈɛkstɹækt/

As a verb (“To draw out; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed…”): /ɪkˈstɹækt/, /ɛkˈstɹækt/.

Extract 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)-Vealhurl-extract_(noun).wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-extract_(verb).wav, En-us-extract.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of extract

  • extracts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • extracting participle, present
  • extracted past, participle

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

What does extract mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Something that is extracted or drawn out.

  2. 2

    A portion of a book, document, recording etc. incorporated distinctly in another work (for written or spoken words, synoymous to a citation; a quotation).

    I used an extract of Hemingway's book to demonstrate culture shock.

  3. 3

    A decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue

    vanilla extract

  4. 4

    Any substance extracted is such a way, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained

    quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.

  5. 5

    A solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant (distinguished from an abstract).

  6. 6

    obsoleteA peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts.

  7. 7

    Ancestry; descent.

  8. 8

    A draft or copy of writing; a certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgment therein, with an order for execution.

verb

  1. 1

    To draw out; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.

    to extract a tooth from its socket, a stump from the earth, or a splinter from the finger

  2. 2

    To withdraw by squeezing, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process. Compare abstract (transitive verb).

    to extract an essential oil from a plant

  3. 3

    To pick out; to cite or reproduce a snippet of

    extract a passage from a text.

  4. 4

    To select parts of a whole

    We need to try to extract the positives from the defeat.

  5. 5

    To determine (a root of a number).

    Please extract the cube root of 27.

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

How do you abbreviate extract?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of extract: ELT, ETL, ext..

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

Extract in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchextrait (something extracted), extraire (to draw out)
GermanAuszug (something extracted), entnehmen, herausziehen, ziehen (to draw out), Extrakt (solution made by drawing out from a substance), entziehen (to withdraw in process)
Portugueseextrato (something extracted), extrair (to draw out)
Spanishextracto (something extracted), extraer, sacar (to draw out), fragmento, pasaje (portion of a document)

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 extract come from?

Borrowed from Latin extractum, neuter perfect passive participle of extrahō, from ex- (“out of”) + trahō (“to drag”).

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

What to look up after extract