factory
/ˈfæk.tɚ.i/noun, adjective
factory is spelled F-A-C-T-O-R-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, factory means “A building or other place where manufacturing takes place” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of factory is factories.
How many letters and syllables are in factory?
| Letters | 7: F-A-C-T-O-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 35 times per million words; the 2,725th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 factory?
Factory appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th 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 factory?
- UK /ˈfæk.tə.ɹi/
- UK /ˈfæk.tɹi/
- US /ˈfæk.tɚ.i/
Factory has 3 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: En-uk-factory.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with factory?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as factory from its last stressed vowel (/æktəɹi/):
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 factory
- factories plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does factory mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A building or other place where manufacturing takes place.
History has shown that, even without cheap labor, factories run perfectly well.
- 2
UKslangA police station.
- 3
A device or process that produces or manufactures something.
- 4
A factory farm.
chicken factory; pig factory
- 5
In a computer program or library, a function, method, etc. which creates an object.
- 6
The original state of an electronic device, as it was when it came from the manufacturer.
factory settings; factory defaults; a factory reset
- 7
ScotlandarchaicThe position or state of being a factor.
- 8
A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country.
We had here his curate, Mr. Furley, who had been nine years chaplain to the English factory at St. Petersburg […] .
adjective
- 1
colloquialHaving come from the factory in the state it is currently in; original, stock.
See how there's another layer of metal there? That's not factory.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Factory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense manufacturing place:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | usine, fabrique, manufacture |
| German | Fabrik, Manufaktur, Werk |
| Portuguese | fábrica, engenho, usina |
| Spanish | fábrica, planta, manufactura, factoría, obraje |
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 factory come from?
Probably from factor + -y, although in noun sense 1 (“a place where manufacturing takes place”) apparently influenced strongly by association with Classical Latin fact-, the past participial stem of faciō (“to make”); compare manufactory and Latin factōrium (“an oil press”). In noun sense 8 (“a trading establishment”), originally after Portuguese feitoria. In noun sense 9 (“an invoice or inventory”), probably after obsolete Dutch facture (“bill”); see facture. Compare Dutch factorij, Middle French factorie, Spanish factoría.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).