joist
/d͡ʒɔɪst/noun, verb
joist is spelled J-O-I-S-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, joist means “A piece of timber or steel laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of joist is joists.
How many letters and syllables are in joist?
| Letters | 5: J-O-I-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 70,702nd 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 joist?
Joist appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd 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 joist?
- /d͡ʒɔɪst/
Joist has one syllable (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)-Vealhurl-joist.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of joist
- joists plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- joisting participle, present
- joisted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does joist mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A piece of timber or steel laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed.
verb
- 1
To fit or furnish with joists.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Joist in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense piece of timber:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | solive |
| German | Balken, Querbalken, Holzbalken, Deckenbalken, Unterzug, Schwelle |
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 joist come from?
From Old French giste, feminine of gist, the past participle of gesir (“to lie down”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).