i
/aɪ/letter, number, noun
i is spelled I: one letter and one syllable. It appears 12,303 times per million words in written English, the 7th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a letter, i means “The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in i?
| Letters | 1: I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12,303 times per million words; the 7th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is i?
I appears 12,303 times per million words in written English, the 7th 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 i?
- /ə/
- /aɪ/
- /ɪ/
I 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: En-us-i.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-I.wav, En-us-I.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with i
Sounds like: ay (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of i
- is plural
- i's plural
- ies plural
- eye
- me
- my
- mine
- myself
- ĩs plural
- ĩ's plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does i mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
letter
- 1
The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
number
- 1
The ninth numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
noun
- 1
The name of the Latin script letter I/i.
the position of an i-dot (the dot of an i)
pronoun
- 1
The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence.
I drove my sister and myself to school.
- 2
nonstandardThe speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical object, of a sentence.
Mom drove my sister and I to school.
noun
- 1
The ego.
- 2
USAbbreviation of interstate.
I-95 begins at Houlton, Maine and terminates at Miami, Florida, connecting numerous major cities in the East Coast.
- 3
Abbreviation of instrumental case.
- 4
Abbreviation of instruction.
- 5
USAbbreviation of independent.
letter
- 1
The ninth letter of the English alphabet, called i and written in the Latin script.
symbol
- 1
An orthographic ⟨i⟩ with a diacritic that marks it as being the FLEECE vowel, as in the word "machine".
- 2
An element of the digraph îr, a dictionary transcription for the NEAR vowel
symbol
- 1
datedAn orthographic ⟨i⟩ with a diacritic that marks it as being the consonant /j/, as in the word "peculiar".
symbol
- 1
A dictionary transcription for the PRICE vowel
symbol
- 1
A dictionary transcription for the KIT vowel
letter
- 1
obsoleteThe letter i with a tilde, replacing the sequence in or im.
wĩ – win
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
I in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 i come from?
From Latin i, minuscule of I.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).