layabout
/ˈleɪəˌbaʊt/noun
layabout is spelled L-A-Y-A-B-O-U-T: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 136,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, layabout means “A lazy person” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of layabout is layabouts.
How many letters and syllables are in layabout?
| Letters | 8: L-A-Y-A-B-O-U-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 136,649th 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 layabout?
Layabout appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 136,649th 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 layabout?
- /ˈleɪəˌbaʊt/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-layabout.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of layabout
- layabouts plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does layabout mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalslangA lazy person.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Layabout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lazy person:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fainéant, glandeur |
| German | Faulenzer, Tunichtgut, Nichtsnutz |
| Portuguese | vadio, vagabundo |
| Spanish | holgazán |
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 layabout come from?
From lay + about.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).