gait
/ɡeɪt/noun, verb
gait is spelled G-A-I-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “gait vs gate” about 140 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, gait means “A manner of walking or stepping; a bearing or carriage while moving on legs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gait is gaits.
How many letters and syllables are in gait?
| Letters | 4: G-A-I-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is gait?
Gait appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 gait?
- US /ɡeɪt/
- Australia /ɡæɪt/
- /ɡet/
Gait has one syllable (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-gate.ogg, En-au-gate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with gait
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with gait?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as gait from its last stressed vowel (/eɪt/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: taig.
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 gait
- gaits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- gaiting participle, present
- gaited participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gait mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A manner of walking or stepping; a bearing or carriage while moving on legs.
Carrying a heavy suitcase, he had a lopsided gait.
- 2
One of the distinct patterns of locomotion exhibited by a horse, occurring either naturally or as a result of training.
- 3
UKA sheaf of corn.
- 4
UKA charge for pasturage.
verb
- 1
To teach a specific gait to a horse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gait in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | démarche , allure |
| German | Gang, Gangart, Gangweise, Gehweise , Gangbild |
| Portuguese | andar, andadura, porte |
| Spanish | zancada, andadura, andares, andar, caminar, caminado |
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 gait come from?
From a specialised use of gate (“way, manner, behaviour, habit", properly "way, path, street, journey”), from Middle English gate (“way, path, road, street”), from Old Norse gata (“path, lane, alley, road”), from Proto-Germanic *gatwǭ (“passageway, street”). Doublet of gate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).