issue
/ˈɪʃuː/noun, verb
issue is spelled I-S-S-U-E. The wrong spelling people search most is isssue: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 303 of all searches for the word. Issue is a noun meaning “The outflow of a bodily fluid, particularly (now rare) in abnormal amounts”. The plural of issue is issues.
How many letters and syllables are in issue?
| Letters | 5: I-S-S-U-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 170 times per million words; the 591st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, isssue, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell issue?
Issue is spelled I-S-S-U-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 300 of the searches for issue 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 issue?
Issue appears 170 times per million words in written English, the 591st 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 issue?
- /ˈɪʃuː/
- /ˈɪsjuː/
- /ˈɪʃjuː/
Issue 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-uk-issue.ogg, En-us-issue.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of issue
- issues plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- issuing participle, present
- issued participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does issue mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA movement of soldiers towards an enemy, a sortie.
- 2
The outflow of a bodily fluid, particularly (now rare) in abnormal amounts.
The technique minimizes the issue of blood from the incision.
- 3
archaicThe bodily fluid drained through a natural or artificial issue.
- 4
Offspring: one's natural child or children.
He died intestate and without issue, so the extended family have all lawyered up.
- 5
Progeny: all one's lineal descendants.
Although his own kingdom disappeared, his issue went on to rule a quarter of Europe.
- 6
obsoleteA race of people considered as the descendants of some common ancestor.
- 7
archaicThe produce or income derived from farmland or rental properties.
3. A conveys to B all right to the real property aforementioned for a term of _____ years, with all said real property's attendant issues, rents, and profits.
- 8
rareIncome derived from fines levied by a court or law-enforcement officer; the fines themselves.
verb
- 1
To flow out, to proceed from, to come out or from.
The water issued forth from the spring.
- 2
To rush out, to sally forth.
The men issued from the town and attacked the besiegers.
- 3
To extend into, to open onto.
The road issues into the highway.
- 4
To turn out in a certain way, to result in.
- 5
archaicTo end up as, to turn out being, to become as a result.
- 6
To come to a point in fact or law on which the parties join issue.
- 7
To send out; to put into circulation.
The Federal Reserve issues US dollars.
- 8
To deliver for use.
The prison issued new uniforms for the inmates.
noun
- 1
derogatoryA Monacan Indian; a member of a Mestee group originating in Amherst County, Virginia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate issue?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of issue: iss..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Issue in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sortie, émission , livraison, délivrance , sortir, jaillir |
| German | Ausgehen , Nachkomme, Abkömmling , Abschluss, Schluss , Kernpunkt |
| Portuguese | fluxo , emissão, envio , descendente , tiragem , emitir |
| Spanish | flujo , emisión, envío, expedición , incisión , expedir |
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 issue come from?
From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).