Skip to main content
PlainSpell

latch

/læt͡ʃ/verb, noun

latch is spelled L-A-T-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, latch means “To close or lock as if with a latch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in latch?

Letters5: L-A-T-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 latch?

Latch appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 latch?

  • /læt͡ʃ/

Latch 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: En-us-latch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of latch

  • latches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • latching participle, present
  • latched participle, past
  • lech
  • letch

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does latch mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To close or lock as if with a latch.

  2. 2

    To catch; lay hold of.

  3. 3

    To use a latch (kind of lightweight lock).

  4. 4

    To connect to the breast.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo smear; to anoint.

noun

  1. 1

    A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.

  2. 2

    An electronic circuit that is like a flip-flop, except that it is level triggered instead of edge triggered.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA latching.

  4. 4

    obsoleteA crossbow.

  5. 5

    obsoleteThat which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.

  6. 6

    A breastfeeding baby's connection to the breast.

  7. 7

    A lightweight lock to protect internal structures from being modified by multiple concurrent accesses.

noun

as LATCH
  1. 1

    Acronym of lower anchors and tethers for children.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Latch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanverriegeln, einrasten, einklinken, sperren, zuschnappen, schließen (to close with a latch)
Portuguesetrincar (to close with a latch), tranca, trinco (fastening for a door), flip-flop (flip-flop electronic circuit)
Spanishapestillar, acerrojar (to close with a latch), cerrojo, pestillo, falleba, piesllo (fastening for a door)
Frenchloquet (fastening for a door), bascule (flip-flop electronic circuit), prise de sein, succion (baby's connection to the breast)

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 latch come from?

From Middle English lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”, verb), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, *lakwijaną, *lakkijaną (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-, *(s)leh₂gʷ- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lakken (“to grasp, catch”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after latch