Iowa
/ˈaɪəwə/noun
Iowa is spelled I-O-W-A: 4 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, Iowa means “One of the Native Americans formerly occupying the region now included in the state of Iowa” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of Iowa is Iowas.
How many letters and syllables are in Iowa?
| Letters | 4: I-O-W-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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 Iowa?
Iowa appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th 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 Iowa?
- US /ˈaɪəwə/
- US /ˈaɪəweɪ/
- US /ˈaɪəweɪ/
Iowa 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: En-us-Iowa.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Iowa
- Iowas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Iowa mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One of the Native Americans formerly occupying the region now included in the state of Iowa.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Iowa come from?
From French Aiouez/Ayoés, an early transliteration of the name for the Iowa tribe, from Dakota ayúxba (“the sleepy ones”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).