gallows
/ˈɡæloʊz/noun, verb
gallows is spelled G-A-L-L-O-W-S: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gallows means “A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in gallows?
| Letters | 7: G-A-L-L-O-W-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is gallows?
Gallows appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd 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 gallows?
- UK /ˈɡæləʊz/
- US /ˈɡæloʊz/
- /ˈɡæləs/
Gallows 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-gallows.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with gallows
Also written: gallus.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with gallows?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as gallows from its last stressed vowel (/æloʊz/):
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 gallows
- gallowses plural, rare
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gallows mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging.
Near-synonym: gibbet
- 2
colloquialobsoleteA wretch who deserves to be hanged.
- 3
obsoleteThe rest for the tympan when raised.
- 4
colloquialobsoleteSuspenders; braces.
- 5
Any contrivance with posts and crossbeam for suspending objects.
Lit by the moonlight through the window, he can see a FIGURE in the hospital bed alone in the room, and under a transparent oxygen tent. […] Tubes hang from a steel gallows beside the bed, and run to his nose and mouth.
- 6
The main frame of a beam engine.
- 7
plural of gallow glyph; a specialized, ornate character that appears frequently in the Voynich Manuscript.
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of gallow
adverb
- 1
archaiccolloquialUtterly; very.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gallows in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense wooden framework on which persons are put to death by hanging:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gibet, potence |
| German | Galgen |
| Portuguese | patíbulo, cadafalso |
| Spanish | horca, patíbulo, forca, cadahalso, cadalso, suplicio |
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 gallows come from?
From Middle English galwes, galewes, plural of galwe, galowe, from Old English galga, gealga, from Proto-West Germanic *galgō, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“long switch, rod, shaft, pole, perch”). The plural construction probably refers to the vertical and horizontal beams. Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi. For the pronunciation /ˈɡæləs/, compare bellows, bodice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).