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PlainSpell

infrared

/ˌɪnfɹəˈɹɛd/noun, adjective

infrared is spelled I-N-F-R-A-R-E-D. The wrong spelling people search most is infared: about 480 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Infrared is a noun meaning “The electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave…”. The plural of infrared is infrareds.

How many letters and syllables are in infrared?

Letters8: I-N-F-R-A-R-E-D
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, infared, about 480 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with

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 do you spell infrared?

Infrared is spelled I-N-F-R-A-R-E-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for infrared in either form.

infraredthe right spelling2,890 searches a month
infareda missing r480 searches a month

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 infrared?

Infrared appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th 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 infrared?

  • US /ˌɪnfɹəˈɹɛd/
  • Australia /ˌɪnfɹəˈɹed/
  • /ɪn.fɾɑ.ɾĕɖ/

Infrared has 3 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-infrared.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with infrared

Also written: infra-red (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with infrared?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as infrared from its last stressed vowel (/ɛd/):

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 infrared

  • infrareds plural

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

What does infrared mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave radiation, having a wavelength between 700 nm and 1 mm.

  2. 2

    A specific wavelength in this range.

  3. 3

    A device that emits infrared radiation.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a wavelength in the infrared spectrum.

  2. 2

    Relating to very low energies or very large distances or time spans.

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

How do you abbreviate infrared?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of infrared: IR.

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

Infrared in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchinfrarouge (radiation of a wavelength between 700 nm and 1…)
GermanInfrarot (radiation of a wavelength between 700 nm and 1…), infrarot (having the wavelength in the infrared)
Portugueseinfravermelho (radiation of a wavelength between 700 nm and 1…)
Spanishinfrarrojo (radiation of a wavelength between 700 nm and 1…), ultrarrojo (having the wavelength in the infrared)

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 infrared come from?

From infra- + red.

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

What to look up after infrared