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PlainSpell

lisp

/lɪsp/noun, verb

lisp is spelled L-I-S-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lisp means “The act or a habit of lisping” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lisp is lisps.

How many letters and syllables are in lisp?

Letters4: L-I-S-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.0 times per million words; the 28,918th 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 lisp?

Lisp appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th 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 lisp?

  • /lɪsp/
  • /lɪθp/
  • /lɪl͡sp/

Lisp 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-lisp.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with lisp?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: lips, slip.

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 lisp

  • lisps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • lipsey
  • lithp
  • lisping participle, present
  • lisped participle, past

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

What does lisp mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The act or a habit of lisping.

    He used to have a terrible lisp before going to a speech therapist.

verb

  1. 1

    To pronounce the consonant ‘s’ imperfectly; to give ‘s’ and ‘z’ the sounds of ‘th’ (/θ/, /ð/). This is a speech impediment common among children.

    Until the age of 10, Dominic would lisp, but this was fixed by a speech therapist.

  2. 2

    To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.

  3. 3

    archaicTo speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.

  4. 4

    archaicto express by the use of simple, childlike language.

  5. 5

    archaicTo speak with reserve or concealment; to utter timidly or confidentially.

    to lisp treason

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

Lisp in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchzézaiement, zozotement, susseyement, sesseyement (The habit or an act of lisping), zozoter, zézayer (to pronounce the sibilant letter ‘s’ imperfectly)
GermanLispelei (The habit or an act of lisping), lispeln, zuzeln (to pronounce the sibilant letter ‘s’ imperfectly)
Portuguesesigmatismo, ceceio (The habit or an act of lisping), cecear (to pronounce the sibilant letter ‘s’ imperfectly)
Spanishceceo, sigmatismo (The habit or an act of lisping), cecear (to pronounce the sibilant letter ‘s’ imperfectly), balbucear (to speak with imperfect articulation)

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 lisp come from?

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in āwlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).

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

What to look up after lisp