lion
/ˈlaɪən/noun, adjective
lion is spelled L-I-O-N: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lion means “A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lion is lions.
How many letters and syllables are in lion?
| Letters | 4: L-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,667th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 lion?
Lion appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th 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 lion?
- /ˈlaɪən/
Lion 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-lion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with lion?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lion.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: lino, loin, noil.
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 lion
- lions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
Tigers and lions share a common ancestor from a few million years ago.
- 2
A male lion, as opposed to a lioness, which is characterized by having a flowing shaggy mane and taking little part in hunting, which can be done cooperatively.
- 3
Any of various extant and extinct big cats, especially the mountain lion.
- 4
A Chinese foo dog.
- 5
A person who shows attributes associated with the lion, such as strength, courage, or ferocity.
- 6
A famous person regarded with interest and curiosity.
- 7
A light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.
- 8
An old Scottish coin, with a lion on the obverse, worth 74 shillings.
adjective
- 1
Of the light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.
noun
- 1
A player for National Football League's Detroit Lions.
- 2
A player for Canadian Football League's B.C. Lions.
- 3
A player for the England football team.
- 4
A player or supporter of the Brisbane Lions.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | lion, lionne , leon |
| German | Löwe, Leu, Löwchen, Löwlein, Löwin |
| Portuguese | leão |
| Spanish | león |
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 lion come from?
From Middle English lyoun, lion, leon, borrowed from Old French lion, from Latin leō, (accusative: leōnem), from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn), of unclear origin. Doublet of Leo, leu, lev, and Lyon. Displaced Old English lēo, from the same Latin source.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).