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libel

/ˈlaɪbəl/noun, verb

libel is spelled L-I-B-E-L. The wrong spelling people search most is libell: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 161 of all searches for the word. Libel is a noun meaning “A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation”. The plural of libel is libels.

How many letters and syllables are in libel?

Letters5: L-I-B-E-L
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, libell, about 20 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 libel?

Libel is spelled L-I-B-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 161 of the searches for libel in either form.

libelthe right spelling3,200 searches a month
libellan extra l20 searches a month

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 libel?

Libel appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 libel?

  • /ˈlaɪbəl/

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

Forms of libel

  • libels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • libeling US, participle, present
  • libelling UK, participle, present
  • libeled US, participle, past
  • libelled UK, participle, past

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

What does libel mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.

  2. 2

    The act or tort of displaying such a statement publicly.

  3. 3

    Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.

  4. 4

    A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of their cause of action, and of the relief they seek.

    These provisions of law being in force, the steamer Rio Grande, owned, as was alleged, by persons in Mexico, being in the port of Mobile, in the Southern District of Alabama, certain materialmen, on the 26th of November, 1867, filed separat

  5. 5

    A brief writing of any kind, especially a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc.

    a libel of forsaking [divorcement]

verb

  1. 1

    To defame (someone), especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.

    He libelled her when he published that.

  2. 2

    To proceed against (goods, a ship, etc.) by filing a legal claim.

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

Libel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcalomnie f écrite, libelle (defamatory false written statement)
Germanschriftliche Verleumdung (defamatory false written statement), Schmähschrift (any defamatory writing), (schriftlich) verleumden (to defame someone)
Portuguesecalúnia (defamatory false written statement), difamar, libelar (to defame someone), difamação (act or crime), libelo (statement by the plaintiff)
Spanishlibelo (defamatory false written statement), libelar (desus.) (to defame someone)

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 libel come from?

From Middle English libel, from Old French libelle, from Latin libellus (“petition”, literally “booklet”). Doublet of libelle.

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

What to look up after libel