iterate
/ˈɪtəɹeɪt/verb, noun
iterate is spelled I-T-E-R-A-T-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “iterate vs reiterate” about 720 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, iterate means “To perform or repeat an action on each item in a set” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in iterate?
| Letters | 7: I-T-E-R-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 52,337th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is iterate?
Iterate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th 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 iterate?
- UK /ˈɪtəɹeɪt/
- UK /ˈaɪtəɹeɪt/
- US /ˈɪtəɹeɪt/
As a noun (“An n-fold self-composition of a function”): /ˈɪtərət/.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-iterate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with iterate
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with iterate?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as iterate from its last stressed vowel (/ɪtəɹeɪt/):
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 iterate
- iterates present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- iterating participle, present
- iterated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does iterate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To perform or repeat an action on each item in a set.
The max() function iterates through the data to find the highest value.
- 2
To perform or repeat an action on the results of each such prior action.
In mathematics, an iterated function is a function which is composed with itself, possibly ad infinitum, in a process called iteration.
- 3
archaicTo utter or do a second time or many times; to repeat.
to iterate advice
- 4
To repeat an activity, making incremental changes each time.
noun
- 1
An n-fold self-composition of a function.
- 2
The image of a certain value under such a function.
f²(x₀) is the second iterate of x₀ under f.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteSaid or done again; repeated.
- 2
obsoleteIterated.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Iterate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense To utter or do a second time:
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 iterate come from?
The adjective is first attested in 1471, in Middle English, the verb in 1533, the noun in 1941; partly inherited from Middle English iterat(e) (adjective), partly borrowed from Latin iterātus, perfect passive participle of iterō (“to do something for a second time, repeat”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)) , from iterum (“again”) + -ō. Sporadical participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).