jetsam
jet·sam/ˈd͡ʒɛt.səm/noun
jetsam is spelled J-E-T-S-A-M: 6 letters and 2 syllables (jet·sam). It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 86,301st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jetsam means “Items thrown overboard from a ship or boat in distress in order to lighten its load” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jetsam is jetsams.
How many letters and syllables are in jetsam?
| Letters | 6: J-E-T-S-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: jet·sam |
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 86,301st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is jetsam?
Jetsam appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 86,301st 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 jetsam?
- /ˈd͡ʒɛt.səm/
Jetsam has 2 syllables, split jet·sam in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-jetsam.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of jetsam
- jetsams plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does jetsam mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Items thrown overboard from a ship or boat in distress in order to lighten its load.
There she was, floating amongst the jetsam, like so much debris.
- 2
Discarded or leftover odds and ends.
They were the jetsam of the dot-com bust.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Jetsam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense jetsam:
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 jetsam come from?
From Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-Norman getteson. Doublet of jettison.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).