latency
/ˈleɪ.tən.si/noun
latency is spelled L-A-T-E-N-C-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, latency means “Concealment; the state of being latent; the state of being hidden” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of latency is latencies.
How many letters and syllables are in latency?
| Letters | 7: L-A-T-E-N-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,336th 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 latency?
Latency appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th 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 latency?
- US /ˈleɪ.tən.si/
Latency has 3 syllables (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-latency.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of latency
- latencies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does latency mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Concealment; the state of being latent; the state of being hidden.
- 2
Dormancy; the state of being inactive.
- 3
A delay, an interval between the initiation of something and the occurrence.
network latency
- 4
The time delay between a request for data or action and the beginning of the response or execution, often measured to assess system performance.
- 5
The delay between a stimulus and the response it triggers in an organism.
period of latency
- 6
A stage in Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of the psychosexual development of children where children become asexual until their sexual desires come back at puberty.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Latency in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | latence |
| German | Latenz, Latenzzeit, Verborgenheit, Wartezeit, Verzögerung , Latenzmechanismus |
| Portuguese | latência |
| Spanish | latencia |
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 latency come from?
From latent + -ency.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).