faculty
/ˈfæk.əl.ti/noun
faculty is spelled F-A-C-U-L-T-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, faculty means “The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of faculty is faculties.
How many letters and syllables are in faculty?
| Letters | 7: F-A-C-U-L-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 faculty?
Faculty appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd 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 faculty?
- US /ˈfæk.əl.ti/
Faculty 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-us-faculty.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of faculty
- faculties plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does faculty mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CanadaUSThe academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.
- 2
A division of a university.
She transferred from the Faculty of Science to the Faculty of Medicine.
- 3
An ability, power, or skill.
He lived until he reached the age of 90 with most of his faculties intact.
- 4
An authority, power, or privilege conferred by a higher authority.
- 5
A licence to make alterations to a church.
- 6
The members of a profession.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Faculty in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Kollegium, Lehrpersonal , Fakultät , Vermögen, Fähigkeit, Begabung |
| Portuguese | corpo docente , setor, faculdade |
| Spanish | cuerpo docente, claustro, profesorado , facultad |
| French | faculté, composante, U.E.R., U.F.R. |
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 faculty come from?
From Middle English faculte (“power, property”), from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas (“capability, ability, skill, abundance, plenty, stock, goods, property; in Medieval Latin also a body of teachers”), another form of facilitas (“easiness, facility, etc.”), from facul, another form of facilis (“easy, facile”); see facile. Doublet of facility.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).