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PlainSpell

leather

/ˈlɛðɚ/noun, adjective, verb

leather is spelled L-E-A-T-H-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 3,939th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, leather means “A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing; often denotes leather from cattle when no…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of leather is leathers.

How many letters and syllables are in leather?

Letters7: L-E-A-T-H-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing22 times per million words; the 3,939th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 leather?

Leather appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 3,939th 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 leather?

  • UK /ˈlɛðə/
  • US /ˈlɛðɚ/
  • Australia /ˈleðə/

Leather 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-leather.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with leather?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as leather from its last stressed vowel (/ɛðəɹ/):

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 leather

  • leathers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • leathering participle, present
  • leathered participle, past

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

What does leather mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing; often denotes leather from cattle when no qualifier specifies otherwise.

  2. 2

    A piece of the above used for polishing.

  3. 3

    colloquialA cricket ball or football.

  4. 4

    clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.

  5. 5

    A good defensive play

    Jones showed good leather to snare that liner.

  6. 6

    A punch.

  7. 7

    datedThe skin.

  8. 8

    Clipping of fruit leather.

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of leather.

  2. 2

    Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.

  3. 3

    Referring to an establishment of familial relations through agreed sexual or romantic deviance.

verb

  1. 1

    To cover with leather.

  2. 2

    To form a leathery surface (on).

  3. 3

    To strike forcefully.

    He leathered the ball all the way down the street.

  4. 4

    To spank or beat with a leather belt or strap.

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

How do you abbreviate leather?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of leather: lthr..

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

Leather in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcuir (material produced by tanning animal skin), de cuir (made of leather)
GermanLeder (material produced by tanning animal skin), ledern (made of leather)
Portuguesecouro (material produced by tanning animal skin), de couro (made of leather)
Spanishcuero, antelina (faux) (material produced by tanning animal skin)

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 leather come from?

From Middle English lether, from Old English leþer (“leather”), from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą (“leather”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸlitrom, *letros, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥tro- (“skin, hide”).

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

What to look up after leather