flotsam
/ˈflɑtsəm/noun
flotsam is spelled F-L-O-T-S-A-M: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,838th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, flotsam means “Debris floating in a river or sea, in particular fragments from a shipwreck” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flotsam is flotsams.
How many letters and syllables are in flotsam?
| Letters | 7: F-L-O-T-S-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,838th 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 flotsam?
Flotsam appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,838th 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 flotsam?
- UK /ˈflɒtsəm/
- US /ˈflɑtsəm/
Flotsam 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-flotsam.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of flotsam
- flotsams plural
- floatsam
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flotsam mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Debris floating in a river or sea, in particular fragments from a shipwreck.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flotsam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense flotsam:
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 flotsam come from?
From Anglo-Norman floteson, from Old French flotaison (“a floating”), from floter (“to float”), of Germanic origin (See float.), + -aison, from Latin -atio.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).