grotto
/ˈɡɹɑ.toʊ/noun
grotto is spelled G-R-O-T-T-O: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, grotto means “A small cave” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of grotto is grottos or grottoes.
How many letters and syllables are in grotto?
| Letters | 6: G-R-O-T-T-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is grotto?
Grotto appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th 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 grotto?
- UK /ˈɡɹɒt.əʊ/
- US /ˈɡɹɑ.toʊ/
Grotto 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-grotto.ogg, En-au-grotto.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with grotto?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as grotto from its last stressed vowel (/ɑtoʊ/):
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 grotto
- grottos plural
- grottoes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grotto mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small cave.
- 2
An artificial cavern-like retreat.
- 3
A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.
- 4
A local organization of cavers that typically organizes trips to caves and provides information and training for caving; a caving club.
- 5
A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.
- 6
A garden or roadside shrine with a small cave containing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (usually Our Lady of Lourdes and sometimes paired with a water feature)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grotto in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small cave:
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 grotto come from?
From Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin grupta, from Classical Latin crypta. Doublet of crypt. The Philippine sense is from the holy cave in Lourdes, France.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).