fetish
/ˈfɛt.ɪʃ/noun
fetish is spelled F-E-T-I-S-H: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fetish means “Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers; an amulet or a talisman” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fetish is fetishes.
How many letters and syllables are in fetish?
| Letters | 6: F-E-T-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th 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 fetish?
Fetish appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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 fetish?
- US /ˈfɛt.ɪʃ/
- US /ˈfiː.tɪʃ/
Fetish 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: En-us-fetish.ogg, En-au-fetish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fetish
- fetishes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fetish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers; an amulet or a talisman.
- 2
datedA figure representing the spirit of a deity, human, or animal; an idol or voodoo doll.
- 3
Sexual fixation to or arousal at something abnormally sexual or non-sexual, such as an object or a non-sexual part of the body.
I know a guy who has a foot fetish.
- 4
An irrational or abnormal preoccupation or fixation on some object or activity; an obsession.
He has been talking about the same topic for hours on end, I suspect he may have a fetish
- 5
A recurrent theme of a specific thing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate fetish?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of fetish: fet.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fetish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense something believed to possess spiritual or magical powers:
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 fetish come from?
Borrowed from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, from Latin factīcius (“artificial”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).