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PlainSpell

green

/ˈɡɹin/noun, adjective, verb, interjection

green is spelled G-R-E-E-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 135 times per million words in written English, the 770th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, green means “The color of grass and leaves; a primary additive color midway between yellow and blue which is evoked by light between roughly 495–570 nm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of green is greens.

How many letters and syllables are in green?

Letters5: G-R-E-E-N
Syllables1
In writing135 times per million words; the 770th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is green?

Green appears 135 times per million words in written English, the 770th 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 green?

  • UK /ˈɡɹiːn/
  • UK [ˈɡɹʷɪi̯n]
  • US /ˈɡɹin/

Green has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-green.wav, En-uk-green.ogg, En-au-green.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with green

Sounds like: Gruene (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with green?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as green from its last stressed vowel (/in/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: genre, regen.

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 green

  • greens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • greener comparative
  • greenest superlative
  • greening participle, present
  • greened participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does green mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The color of grass and leaves; a primary additive color midway between yellow and blue which is evoked by light between roughly 495–570 nm.

  2. 2

    A member of a green party; an environmentalist.

  3. 3

    A putting green, the part of a golf course near the hole.

  4. 4

    The surface upon which bowls is played.

  5. 5

    One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 3 points.

  6. 6

    UKA public patch of land in the middle of a settlement.

  7. 7

    A grassy plain; a piece of ground covered with verdant herbage.

  8. 8

    Fresh leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a green hue.

    He is wearing a green shirt.

  2. 2

    Sickly, unwell.

    Sally looks pretty green–is she going to be sick?

  3. 3

    Unripe, said of certain fruits that change color when they ripen.

  4. 4

    Inexperienced.

    John's kind of green, so take it easy on him this first week.

  5. 5

    Islamist.

  6. 6

    Full of life and vigour; fresh and vigorous; new; recent; young.

    a green manhood

  7. 7

    Naive or unaware of obvious facts.

  8. 8

    Overcome with envy.

    He was green with envy.

verb

  1. 1

    To make or turn (something) green or greener.

  2. 2

    To become or grow green in color.

  3. 3

    To add greenspaces to (a town, etc.).

  4. 4

    To become environmentally aware.

  5. 5

    To make (something) environmentally friendly.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used to indicate that the speaker wishes to commence (or to continue a previously stopped) sexual activity.

adjective

as Green
  1. 1

    Of, or pertaining, to a Green Party or green party.

noun

as Green
  1. 1

    A member of a Green Party or green party.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate green?

Wiktionary records 5 abbreviations of green: GRN, Grn, RGB, RGY, grn.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Green in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvert (colour), verte (member of a green party), peu expérimenté, nouveau, bleu (inexperienced), verdir (make (something) green)
GermanGrün (colour), Grüner, Grüne (member of a green party), grünschnäblig, naiv (inexperienced), grün (having green as its colour)
Portugueseverde (colour), esverdear (make (something) green), verde de inveja (envious)
Spanishverde (colour)

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 green come from?

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow. Doublet of Gruen. See also North Frisian green, West Frisian grien, Dutch groen, Low German grön, green, greun, German grün, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, Swedish grön, Norwegian Bokmål grønn, Faroese grønur, Icelandic grænn.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after green