guild
/ɡɪld/noun
guild is spelled G-U-I-L-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “gild vs guild” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, guild means “A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of guild is guilds.
How many letters and syllables are in guild?
| Letters | 5: G-U-I-L-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
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).
How common is guild?
Guild appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 guild?
- /ɡɪld/
Guild 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-guild.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with guild
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: gild, gilled (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: gild.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of guild
- guilds plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does guild mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to oversee and protect their specific commercial interests and to provide mutual aid.
- 2
A corporation.
- 3
A group of diverse species that share common characteristics or habits.
- 4
An organized group of players who regularly play together in a multiplayer game.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Guild in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense association of tradespeople:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | guilde |
| German | Gilde, Zunft |
| Portuguese | guilda, grêmio, confraria |
| Spanish | germanía, gremio |
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 guild come from?
From Middle English gilde, from Old Norse gildi (“payment, guild”). Related to geld, yield, yauld.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).