fennel
/ˈfɛnəl/noun
fennel is spelled F-E-N-N-E-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fennel means “A plant, Foeniculum vulgare, of the parsley family, which has a sweet, anise-like flavor” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fennel is fennels.
How many letters and syllables are in fennel?
| Letters | 6: F-E-N-N-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th 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 fennel?
Fennel appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th 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 fennel?
- /ˈfɛnəl/
Fennel 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-fennel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fennel
- fennels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fennel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A plant, Foeniculum vulgare, of the parsley family, which has a sweet, anise-like flavor.
- 2
The bulb, leaves, or stalks of the plant, eaten as a vegetable.
- 3
The seeds of the fennel plant used as a spice in cooking.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fennel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Foeniculum vulgare, the plant:
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 fennel come from?
From the Middle English fenel, from the late Old English finuðl, finule (weak feminine forms); fenol, finul (masculine forms), from Proto-West Germanic *fenukl, from the Vulgar Latin *fēnuclum, fēnoclum, from Late Latin fēnuculum, from the Classical Latin faeniculum, a diminutive form of faenum (“hay”); compare the Italian finocchio, the Occitan fenolh, the French fenouil, and the Spanish hinojo. Doublet of finocchio and finook.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).