late
/leɪt/adjective, noun, adverb
late is spelled L-A-T-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, late means “Near the end of a period of time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in late?
| Letters | 4: L-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 219 times per million words; the 460th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is late?
Late appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th 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 late?
- US /leɪt/
- Australia /læɪt/
- /let/
Late 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-late.ogg, En-uk-late.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with late?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as late from its last stressed vowel (/eɪt/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: tale, teal, tela, leat, tael.
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 late
- later comparative
- latest superlative
- lates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does late mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Near the end of a period of time.
The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.
- 2
Specifically, near the end of the day.
It was getting late and I was tired.
- 3
Associated with the end of a period.
Late Latin is less fully inflected than Classical Latin.
- 4
Not arriving or occurring until after an expected time.
The flowers were late in blooming because of the prolonged cold weather.
- 5
Levied as a surcharge on a payment which has not arrived by a specified deadline.
The power company suspended late fees during the pandemic.
- 6
Not having had an expected menstrual period.
I'm late, honey. Could you buy a test?
- 7
Recently deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Generally must be preceded by a possessive or an article, commonly “the”; see usage notes. Can itself only precede the person's name, never follow it.)
Her late husband had left her well provided for.
- 8
datedExisting or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.
the late bishop of London
noun
- 1
informalA shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
adverb
- 1
After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.
- 2
Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.
Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.
- 3
Not long ago; just now, recently.
noun
- 1
Acronym of limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a form of dementia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Late in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tard , en retard , défunt, feu, regretté |
| German | spät , verspätet , verstorben, selig |
| Portuguese | tardio , atrasado , falecido , tardia , tarde |
| Spanish | tarde , atrasado , difunto, finado , tardío , hacerse tarde para |
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 late come from?
From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).