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PlainSpell

founder

found·erUK [ˈfaʊ̯n.də]noun, verb

founder is spelled F-O-U-N-D-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (found·er). It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, founder means “One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of founder is founders.

How many letters and syllables are in founder?

Letters7: F-O-U-N-D-E-R
Syllables2: found·er
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is founder?

Founder appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 founder?

  • /ˈfaʊndəɹ/
  • UK [ˈfaʊ̯n.də]
  • [ˈfæʊ̯n.də]

Founder has 2 syllables, split found·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-founder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with founder?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as founder.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: refound.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of founder

  • founders plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • foundering participle, present
  • foundered participle, past

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

What does founder mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.).

    The founder of Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg.

  2. 2

    A common ancestor of some population (especially one with a certain genetic mutation).

    a founder population

  3. 3

    The iron worker in charge of the blast furnace and the smelting operation.

  4. 4

    One who casts metals in various forms; a caster.

    a founder of cannon, bells, hardware, or printing types

  5. 5

    A severe laminitis of a horse, caused by untreated internal inflammation in the hooves.

verb

  1. 1

    To flood with water and sink.

  2. 2

    To fall; to stumble and go lame.

  3. 3

    To fail; to miscarry.

  4. 4

    archaicTo cause to flood and sink, as a ship.

    I was amazed when we came among the breakers (which to me seemed large enough to founder our ship), to see with what wondrous dexterity they carried us through them, and ran their canoes on the top of one of those rolling waves […]

  5. 5

    To disable or lame (a horse) by causing internal inflammation and soreness in the feet or limbs.

noun

as Founder
  1. 1

    USA Founding Father.

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

How do you abbreviate founder?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of founder: fndr..

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

Founder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfondateur, fondatrice, fondateurs (one who founds, establishes, and erects; one…), fondeur (worker in charge of the blast furnace and…), couler, sombrer (to sink)
GermanGründer, Gründerin (one who founds, establishes, and erects; one…), sinken (to sink), Glockengießer (one who casts metals in various forms), stolpern (to stumble), scheitern (to fail)
Portuguesefundador (one who founds, establishes, and erects; one…), fundidor (worker in charge of the blast furnace and…), afundir, afundar (to sink), tropeçar (to stumble), fracassar (to fail)
Spanishfundador, fundadora, fundadores, fundadoras (one who founds, establishes, and erects; one…), hundirse, zozobrar (to sink)

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 founder come from?

From Old French fondeur, from Latin fundātor, equivalent to found + -er.

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

What to look up after founder