length
/lɛŋ(k)θ/noun
length is spelled L-E-N-G-T-H. The wrong spelling people search most is lenght: about 450 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Length is a noun meaning “The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object”. The plural of length is lengths.
How many letters and syllables are in length?
| Letters | 6: L-E-N-G-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, lenght, about 450 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell length?
Length is spelled L-E-N-G-T-H. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for length in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is length?
Length appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th 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 length?
- US /lɛŋ(k)θ/
- US /lɛn(t)θ/
- Australia /leŋ(k)θ/
Length 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-length.wav, En-us-length.ogg, En-au-length.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of length
- lengths plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- lengthing participle, present
- lengthed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does length mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
- 2
Duration.
- 3
The length of a horse, used to indicate the distance between horses at the end of a race.
five lengths ahead of the field
- 4
Distance between the two ends of a line segment.
- 5
The distance down the pitch that the ball bounces on its way to the batsman.
- 6
Total extent.
the length of a book
- 7
Part of something that is long; a physical piece of something.
a length of rope
- 8
slangA penis.
, Bride for the Billionaire Bear Shifter His cock felt firm under her palm, and her mouth watered as she imagined wrapping her lips around his length.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo lengthen.
Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow: / Short night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate length?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of length: lgth.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Length in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | longueur , durée |
| German | Länge, Längenmaß , Pferdelänge |
| Portuguese | comprimento, extensão |
| Spanish | largo, eslora, longitud, largor, largura, largueza |
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 length come from?
From Middle English lengthe, from Old English lengþ, lengþu, from Proto-West Germanic *langiþu, from Proto-Germanic *langiþō, equivalent to long + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots lenth, lainth (“length”), Saterland Frisian Loangte (“length”), West Frisian lingte, langte (“length”), Dutch lengte (“length”), German Low German Längde, Längd, Längte, Längt (“length”), Danish længde (“length”), Swedish längd (“length”), Icelandic lengd (“length”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).