heat wave
/ˈhit weɪv/noun
heat wave is spelled H-E-A-T-W-A-V-E: 8 letters. As a noun, heat wave means “A period of exceptionally hot weather” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of heat wave is heat waves.
How many letters and syllables are in heat wave?
| Letters | 8: H-E-A-T-W-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | a phrase: the frequency list counts single words |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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); 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 do you pronounce heat wave?
- US /ˈhit weɪv/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Qwertygiy-heatwave.wav, En-au-heat_wave.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with heat wave
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: heatwave (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of heat wave
- heat waves plural
- heatwave
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heat wave mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A period of exceptionally hot weather.
- 2
USThree consecutive days with daytime high temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
- 3
UKA period of at least three consecutive days with daily high temperatures of the respective county's temperature threshold or higher.
- 4
An electromagnetic wave in the infrared spectrum.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heat wave in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense period of very hot weather:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vague de chaleur, canicule |
| German | Hitzewelle |
| Portuguese | onda de calor |
| Spanish | ola de calor, vaharada calórica, vaharada térmica, vaharada calorífica |
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.