library
/ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹ.i/noun
library is spelled L-I-B-R-A-R-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is libary: about 1,740 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 67 of all searches for the word. Library is a noun meaning “An institution which holds books and/or other forms of media for use by the public or qualified people often…”. The plural of library is libraries.
How many letters and syllables are in library?
| Letters | 7: L-I-B-R-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 72 times per million words; the 1,457th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, libary, about 1,740 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 library?
Library is spelled L-I-B-R-A-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 67 of the searches for library 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 library?
Library appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th 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 library?
- UK /ˈlaɪ.bɹi/
- UK /ˈlaɪ.bɹə.ɹi/
- US /ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹ.i/
Library has 3 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-library.wav, En-us-library.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of library
- libraries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does library mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An institution which holds books and/or other forms of media for use by the public or qualified people often lending them out, as well as providing various other services for its users.
She went to exchange her books at her local library.
- 2
Any institution that lends out its goods for use by the public or a community.
You can check out a bandsaw from the tool library.
- 3
A collection of books or other forms of stored information.
- 4
A collection of information or reference materials not in book form.
She has the most impressive record library I've ever seen.
- 5
A room dedicated to storing books.
- 6
A collection of software routines that provide functionality to be incorporated into or used by a computer program.
- 7
A collection of DNA material from a single organism or relative to a single disease.
- 8
The deck or draw pile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Library in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bibliothèque , librairie |
| German | Bibliothek, Bücherei , Programmbibliothek , Archiv |
| Portuguese | biblioteca , arquivo , grimório |
| Spanish | biblioteca , librería |
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 library come from?
From Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium (“bookcase, chest for books”), from librarius (“concerning books”), from liber (“the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book”), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(ʰ)- (“to strip, to peel”). Displaced native Middle English bochous, bokhus (literally “book house”), from Old English bōchūs (compare bookhouse). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).