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PlainSpell

idle

/ˈaɪd(ə)l/adjective, verb, noun

idle is spelled I-D-L-E: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “idle vs idol” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, idle means “Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in idle?

Letters4: I-D-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.0 times per million words; the 11,198th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is idle?

Idle appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th 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 idle?

  • /ˈaɪd(ə)l/
  • /ˈʌɪdəl/

Idle 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-idle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with idle

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

idle vs idol170 G
idle vs idyll0 B

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with idle?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as idle.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: lied, deli, diel.

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 idle

  • more idle comparative
  • most idle superlative
  • idles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • idling participle, present
  • idled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does idle mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteEmpty, vacant.

  2. 2

    Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.

    idle hours

  3. 3

    Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.

    idle workmen

  4. 4

    Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

    an idle fellow

  5. 5

    Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

    an idle story;  idle talk;  idle rumor;  idle threats;  idle pleasures

  6. 6

    obsoleteLight-headed; foolish.

verb

  1. 1

    To spend (time) in idleness; to waste; to consume.

  2. 2

    To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.

    to idle in an IRC channel

  3. 3

    Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.

  4. 4

    To cause (an engine) to idle (run at a slow speed, or out of gear).

    The driver idled his engine until the car finally stalled.

  5. 5

    To make (workers, students, etc) idle; to leave without work.

    [L]ayoffs idled 1,900 workers in Ohio and 1,000 in Indiana. At the same time, an Indiana assembly plant recalled 1,200 workers.

noun

  1. 1

    The state of idling, of being idle.

  2. 2

    The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.

    a lumpy idle

  3. 3

    An idle animation.

  4. 4

    An idle game.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Idle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanungenutzt, Mußezeit, Totzeit (not turned to appropriate use, not occupied, of…), untätig, müßig (not engaged in any occupation or employment), faul (averse to work or labor)
Portuguesevazio, inapropriado, desocupado, inutilizável (not turned to appropriate use, not occupied, of…), ocioso (not engaged in any occupation or employment), perder tempo (intransitive: to lose or spend time doing…)
Spanishdesocupado, ocioso (not turned to appropriate use, not occupied, of…), vagabundo (averse to work or labor), vaguear, holgazanear, golfear (intransitive: to lose or spend time doing…)
Frenchoisif (not engaged in any occupation or employment), inactif, fainéant (averse to work or labor), fainéanter (intransitive: to lose or spend time doing…), oiseux (of no importance, worthless, useless), tourner au ralenti (to run at a slow speed, or out of gear)

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 idle come from?

From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel, from Proto-West Germanic *īdl, from Proto-Germanic *īdlaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), ijl (“rareified, skinny”), iel (“thin, slender”); German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”); German eitel (“vain, conceited”); and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after idle