lettuce
/ˈlɛt.ɪs/noun
lettuce is spelled L-E-T-T-U-C-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lettuce means “An edible plant, Lactuca sativa and its close relatives, having a head of green or purple leaves” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lettuce is lettuces.
How many letters and syllables are in lettuce?
| Letters | 7: L-E-T-T-U-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is lettuce?
Lettuce appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 lettuce?
- US /ˈlɛt.ɪs/
- US /ˈlɛt.əs/
- /ˈlɛtus/
Lettuce 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-lettuce.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of lettuce
- lettuces plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lettuce mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An edible plant, Lactuca sativa and its close relatives, having a head of green or purple leaves.
- 2
The leaves of the lettuce plant, eaten as a vegetable; as a dish often mixed with other ingredients, dressing etc.
I’ll have a ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato.
- 3
USslangUnited States paper currency; dollars.
Twenty dollars an hour? That's a lot of lettuce!
- 4
A strong yellow-green color, like that of lettuce (also called lettuce green).
- 5
slangMarijuana.
- 6
slangLong, curly hair, as worn by followers of bro culture.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lettuce in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | laitue , salade , oseille |
| German | Gartensalat, Salat, Lattich |
| Portuguese | alface , verdinhas |
| Spanish | lechuga |
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 lettuce come from?
From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).