gorilla
/ɡəˈɹɪl.ə/noun
gorilla is spelled G-O-R-I-L-L-A: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “gorilla vs guerrilla” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, gorilla means “An ape of the genus Gorilla; endemic to the forests of Central Africa and typified by superlative physical size and strength in relation to other…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gorilla is gorillas.
How many letters and syllables are in gorilla?
| Letters | 7: G-O-R-I-L-L-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.2 times per million words; the 12,578th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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 gorilla?
Gorilla appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th 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 gorilla?
- UK /ɡəˈɹɪl.ə/
- UK /ɡɒˈɹɪl.ə/
- US /ɡəˈɹɪl.ə/
Gorilla has 3 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-gorilla.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with gorilla
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: guerrilla (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with gorilla?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as gorilla from its last stressed vowel (/ɪlə/):
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 gorilla
- gorillas plural
- golira
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gorilla mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An ape of the genus Gorilla; endemic to the forests of Central Africa and typified by superlative physical size and strength in relation to other primates.
- 2
A big and brutish man or a thug; a goon or ruffian.
- 3
informalA powerful person or organization; a heavyweight or behemoth.
- 4
AustraliaUKslang1000 pounds sterling or dollar.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gorilla in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ape:
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 gorilla come from?
From Ancient Greek Γόριλλαι (Górillai, “Gorillai (a tribe of hairy women)”), described by Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginian navigator and possible visitor to the area that later became Sierra Leone; the Greek word is likely from Punic, and ultimately from an African language.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).