fame
/feɪm/noun, verb
fame is spelled F-A-M-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 4,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fame means “One's reputation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fame is fames.
How many letters and syllables are in fame?
| Letters | 4: F-A-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 22 times per million words; the 4,015th 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 fame?
Fame 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 fame?
- /feɪm/
Fame has one syllable (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-fame.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fame
- fames plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- faming participle, present
- famed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fame mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicSomething said or reported; gossip, rumour.
- 2
One's reputation.
- 3
The state of being famous or well-known and spoken of, especially for something positive.
verb
- 1
To make (someone or something) famous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fame in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense state of being famous:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gloire, célébrité |
| German | Ruhm, Berühmtheit, Bekanntheit |
| Portuguese | fama |
| Spanish | fama, nombradía |
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 fame come from?
From Middle English fame, from Old French fame (“celebrity, renown”), itself borrowed from Latin fāma (“talk, rumor, report, reputation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂-meh₂, from *bʰeh₂- (“to speak, say, tell”). Cognate with Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē, “talk”). Related also to Latin for (“speak, say”, verb), Old English bōian (“to boast”), Old English bēn (“prayer, request”), Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).