insect
/ˈɪn.sɛkt/noun
insect is spelled I-N-S-E-C-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, insect means “An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of insect is insects.
How many letters and syllables are in insect?
| Letters | 6: I-N-S-E-C-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is insect?
Insect appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 insect?
- /ˈɪn.sɛkt/
Insect 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)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-insect.wav, En-us-insect.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with insect?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as insect.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: incest, scient.
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 insect
- insects plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does insect mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.
Our shed has several insect infestations, including ants, yellowjackets, and wasps.
- 2
archaicAny small, creeping, crawling, or slithering animal, excluding mammals, birds, and fish.
- 3
archaicAn arthropod or invertebrate.
- 4
derogatoryA contemptible or powerless person.
The manager’s assistant was the worst sort of insect.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Insect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | insecte |
| German | Insekt, Kerbtier, Kerf |
| Portuguese | inseto , bichinho |
| Spanish | insecto , bicho |
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 insect come from?
Borrowed from Middle French insecte, from Latin īnsectum, from īnsectus (“cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body”), from perfect passive participle of īnsecō (“to cut into, to cut up”), from in- + secō (“to cut”), from the notion that the insect's body is "cut into" three sections (head, thorax, abdomen). Calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον (éntomon, “insect”), from ἔντομος (éntomos, “cut into pieces”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).