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PlainSpell

fencing

/ˈfɛnsɪŋ/noun, verb

fencing is spelled F-E-N-C-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fencing means “The art or sport of duelling with swords, especially with the 17th- to 18th-century European dueling swords and the practice weapons descended from…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fencing is fencings.

How many letters and syllables are in fencing?

Letters7: F-E-N-C-I-N-G
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th 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 fencing?

Fencing appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 fencing?

  • /ˈfɛnsɪŋ/

Fencing 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-fencing.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fencing

  • fencings plural

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

What does fencing mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The art or sport of duelling with swords, especially with the 17th- to 18th-century European dueling swords and the practice weapons descended from them (sport fencing).

  2. 2

    Material used to make fences, fences used as barriers or an enclosure.

    Fencing was erected around the field to keep the horses in.

  3. 3

    The act of erecting fences, or enclosing within fences.

  4. 4

    slangThe buying and receiving of stolen goods.

verb

  1. 1

    present participle and gerund of fence (a form of fence)

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

Fencing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchescrime (sport), recel (receiving or buying of stolen goods)
GermanFechten (sport), Hehlerei (receiving or buying of stolen goods), Zaunfeld, Absperrgitter (material used to make fences), Einzäunung (fences used as barriers or an enclosure)
Portugueseesgrima (sport), recetação, receptação (receiving or buying of stolen goods), cerca (material used to make fences)
Spanishesgrima (sport), receptación (receiving or buying of stolen goods), cerca (material used to make fences), vallado (fences used as barriers or an enclosure)

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 fencing come from?

From Middle English fensing, equivalent to fence + -ing.

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

What to look up after fencing