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PlainSpell

lift

/lɪft/verb, noun

lift is spelled L-I-F-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, lift means “To raise or rise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in lift?

Letters4: L-I-F-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing32 times per million words; the 2,992nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lift?

Lift appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd 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 lift?

  • /lɪft/

Lift 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-lift.ogg, En-au-lift.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with lift?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lift.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: flit.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of lift

  • lifts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • lifting participle, present
  • lifted past, participle

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

What does lift mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To raise or rise.

    The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.

  2. 2

    To cause to move upwards.

  3. 3

    slangTo steal.

  4. 4

    slangTo source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.

  5. 5

    slangTo arrest (a person).

  6. 6

    To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).

  7. 7

    To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)

  8. 8

    ScotlandTo disperse, to break up.

noun

  1. 1

    An act of lifting or raising.

  2. 2

    The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.

    He gave me a lift to the bus station.

  3. 3

    AustraliaIndiaUKA mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.

    Take the lift to the fourth floor.

  4. 4

    A mechanical device for raising vehicles for service, so that it is easier for a mechanic to get beneath them.

  5. 5

    An upward force; especially, the force (generated by wings, rotary wings, or airfoils) that keeps aircraft aloft.

  6. 6

    Any technique for lifting weights.

  7. 7

    The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock.

  8. 8

    slangA thief.

  9. 9

    ScotlandUKAir.

  10. 10

    ScotlandUKThe sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.

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

Lift in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlever (to raise or rise), voler, piquer (to steal), levée (act of lifting or raising), ascenseur (mechanical device for vertically transporting…), portance (upward force – see also buoyancy)
Germanheben, anheben (to raise or rise), klauen, stehlen (to steal), Fahrstuhl, Aufzug (mechanical device for vertically transporting…)
Portugueseelevar, erguer, alçar, levantar (to raise or rise), roubar, abafar (to steal)
Spanishlevantar, subir, soliviar, ercer, alzar (to raise or rise), afanar (to steal)

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 lift come from?

From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport".

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

What to look up after lift