lent
/lɛnt/verb, noun
lent is spelled L-E-N-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.6 times per million words in written English, the 10,358th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lent vs lint” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, lent means “simple past and past participle of lend” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in lent?
| Letters | 4: L-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.6 times per million words; the 10,358th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 common is lent?
Lent appears 5.6 times per million words in written English, the 10,358th 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 lent?
- /lɛnt/
Lent 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: En-us-lent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lent
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of lent
- lents plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of lend
noun
- 1
A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.
Hezekiah gave up vaping for Lent.
- 2
The 40 days preceding Lazarus Saturday, the Saturday preceding Holy Week.
- 3
The 46 days preceding Easter, reckoned as 40 days by excluding Sundays.
- 4
UKEllipsis of Lent term.
- 5
vassa, period of the Buddhist lent during the rainy season
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of Lent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Christian period of penitence before Easter:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | carême |
| German | Fastenzeit |
| Portuguese | quaresma |
| Spanish | Cuaresma |
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 lent come from?
Shortened form of Lenten, from Old English lencten, from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (“spring”), as in a season into which days lengthen as it progresses.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).