googol
/ˈɡu.ɡəl/number
googol is spelled G-O-O-G-O-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, googol means “The number 10¹⁰⁰, or ten to the power of a hundred. Equivalent to ten duotrigintillion (short scale), or ten sexdecilliard (long scale)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in googol?
| Letters | 6: G-O-O-G-O-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 29 million words; the 163,711th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
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).
How common is googol?
Googol appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th 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 googol?
- UK /ˈɡuː.ɡəl/
- UK /ˈɡuː.ɡɒl/
- US /ˈɡu.ɡəl/
Googol has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-googol.ogg, En-uk-Google.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with googol
Sounds like: google (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does googol mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
number
- 1
The number 10¹⁰⁰, or ten to the power of a hundred. Equivalent to ten duotrigintillion (short scale), or ten sexdecilliard (long scale).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Googol in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense 1 followed by 100 zeros:
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 googol come from?
Coined by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta in 1920, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, who had asked Milton to think of a name for the 100th power of ten. The word was first published in the book Mathematics and the Imagination (1940).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).