layer
/ˈleɪ̯ɚ/noun, verb
layer is spelled L-A-Y-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, layer means “A single thickness of some material covering a surface” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of layer is layers.
How many letters and syllables are in layer?
| Letters | 5: L-A-Y-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,612th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is layer?
Layer appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th 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 layer?
- US /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/
- US [ˈleɪ̯ɚ] ~ [ˈleɪ̯ɹ̩]
- US /ˈlɛɹ/
As a noun (“A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager”): /ˈleɪ.ə/, /ˈleɪ.ɚ/.
Layer has 2 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: En-us-layer.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with layer
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: lair.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with layer?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as layer from its last stressed vowel (/eɪəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: early, relay, leary.
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 layer
- layers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- layering participle, present
- layered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does layer mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
Wrap the loaf in two layers of aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.
- 2
An item of clothing worn under or over another.
It's cold now but it will warm up this afternoon. Make sure you wear layers.
- 3
A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.
I find seven-layer cake a bit too rich.
- 4
One of the items in a hierarchy.
mired in layers of deceit
- 5
One in a stack of (initially transparent) drawing surfaces that comprise an image; used to keep elements of an image separate so that they can be modified independently from one another.
- 6
One of the seven network switch pieces in the Open Systems Interconnection model: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical.
- 7
An alternative keymap accessed through a modifier key or toggle.
- 8
A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager.
- 9
A mature female bird, insect, etc. that is able to lay eggs.
As for which hen we'll cull for next Sunday's dinner, we certainly won't eat Henrietta yet – she's still a prime layer.
- 10
A hen kept to lay eggs; a breed of chicken bred to maximize laying output.
We keep a flock of layers and flock of broilers.
- 11
A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.
verb
- 1
To cut or divide into layers.
- 2
To arrange in layers.
Layer the ribbons on top of one another to make an attractive pattern.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Layer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | couche , calque , pondeuse , marcotte |
| German | Lage, Schicht , Bekleidungsschicht , trennen, spalten , schichten |
| Portuguese | camada , botadeira , assentador |
| Spanish | capa, tongada, tonga, tanda , gallina ponedora, ponedora |
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 layer come from?
Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay + -er. In which case, ultimately identical to etymology 2 below. For the pronunciation compare prayer. However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has also been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).