gnat
/næt/noun
gnat is spelled G-N-A-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 55,433rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gnat means “A biting insect, especially a mosquito” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gnat is gnats.
How many letters and syllables are in gnat?
| Letters | 4: G-N-A-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 55,433rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 gnat?
Gnat appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 55,433rd 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 gnat?
- /næt/
Gnat 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-gnat.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with gnat?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as gnat.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: tang.
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 gnat
- gnats plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gnat mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A biting insect, especially a mosquito.
- 2
informalAn annoying person.
noun
- 1
A type of jet fighter aircraft.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gnat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | moucheron |
| German | Stechmücke, Schnake, Mücke , Gnat |
| Portuguese | mosquito, mosquitinho |
| Spanish | mosquito, jején, maje, mime |
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 gnat come from?
From Middle English gnat, from Old English gnætt (“gnat; midge; mosquito”), from Proto-West Germanic *gnatt, *gnattu, from Proto-Germanic *gnattaz, *gnattuz (“gnat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰneHdʰn-, *gʰneHd- (“to gnaw; scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰen- (“to gnaw; bite; scratch; grind”). Cognate with Low German Gnatte (“gnat”), dialectal Swedish gnatt (“mosquito”), German Gnatz (“scabs; rash; scabies; stinginess”). Related also gnit and gnaw.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).