increase
in·crease/ɪnˈkɹiːs/verb, noun
increase is spelled I-N-C-R-E-A-S-E, 2 syllables: in·crease. The wrong spelling people search most is increse: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 75 of all searches for the word. Increase is a verb meaning “(of a quantity, etc.) To become larger or greater, to greaten”.
How many letters and syllables are in increase?
| Letters | 8: I-N-C-R-E-A-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: in·crease |
| In writing | 120 times per million words; the 873rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, increse, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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 spell increase?
Increase is spelled I-N-C-R-E-A-S-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 75 of the searches for increase in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is increase?
Increase appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Increase, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce increase?
- /ɪnˈkɹiːs/
As a noun (“An amount by which a quantity is increased”): /ˈɪnkɹiːs/.
Increase has 2 syllables, split in·crease in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-increase.wav, En-us-increase-verb.ogg, En-us-increase-noun.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of increase
- increases present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- increasing participle, present
- increased participle, past
- encrease
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does increase mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
(of a quantity, etc.) To become larger or greater, to greaten.
His rage only increased when I told him of the lost money.
- 2
To make (a quantity, etc.) larger.
- 3
To multiply by the production of young; to be fertile, fruitful, or prolific.
- 4
To become more nearly full; to show more of the surface; to wax.
The Moon increases.
noun
- 1
An amount by which a quantity is increased.
An increase of about 30% in hits on the website.
- 2
For a quantity, the act or process of becoming larger.
- 3
Offspring, progeny.
- 4
The creation of one or more new stitches; see Increase (knitting).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate increase?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of increase: inc, incr, incr..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Increase in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | augmenter, croître , accroître , augmentation |
| German | zunehmen, steigen, ansteigen, wachsen, anwachsen , erhöhen |
| Portuguese | aumentar, crescer, subir , acréscimo, aumento |
| Spanish | aumentar, acrecentarse, incrementarse, amochiguar , subir , incremento |
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 increase come from?
From Middle English encresen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman encreistre, from Latin increscere (“to increase”), from in (“in, on”) + crescō (“grow”). The noun is from Middle English encres, from the verb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).