humus
/ˈhjuːməs/noun
humus is spelled H-U-M-U-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,838th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “hummus vs humus” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, humus means “A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of humus is humuses.
How many letters and syllables are in humus?
| Letters | 5: H-U-M-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,838th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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 humus?
Humus appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,838th 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 humus?
- /ˈhjuːməs/
Humus 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-humus.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with humus
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: hummus.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of humus
- humuses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does humus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms.
- 2
Alternative spelling of hummus (“chickpea dip”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Humus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense group of compounds in soil:
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 humus come from?
Borrowed from Latin humus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).