litany
/ˈlɪtəni/noun
litany is spelled L-I-T-A-N-Y: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, litany means “A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of litany is litanies.
How many letters and syllables are in litany?
| Letters | 6: L-I-T-A-N-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is litany?
Litany appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th 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 litany?
- /ˈlɪtəni/
Litany 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)-Vealhurl-litany.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of litany
- litanies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does litany mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation.
- 2
A prolonged or tedious list.
Near-synonym: jeremiad
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Litany in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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.