glacier
/ˈɡleɪ.ʃɚ/noun
glacier is spelled G-L-A-C-I-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, glacier means “A large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of glacier is glaciers.
How many letters and syllables are in glacier?
| Letters | 7: G-L-A-C-I-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is glacier?
Glacier appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st 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 glacier?
- UK /ˈɡlæs.jə/
- UK /ˈɡleɪs.jə/
- US /ˈɡleɪ.ʃɚ/
Glacier 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-glacier.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with glacier?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as glacier from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: gracile.
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 glacier
- glaciers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does glacier mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill.
They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are becoming “increasingly serious” for China.
- 2
An area of a mountain where snow is present year-round.
You can ski down the glacier in both the winter and the summer.
- 3
Something that moves very slowly
The queue in the pharmacy was a glacier.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Glacier in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | glacier |
| German | Gletscher, Ferner, Kees |
| Portuguese | glaciar, geleira |
| Spanish | glaciar, helero |
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 glacier come from?
Borrowed from French glacier, from Franco-Provençal gllaciér, from Vulgar Latin *glaciārium, a derivative of Latin glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin. First attested in English in 1744 per the OED.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).