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literal

/ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/adjective, noun

literal is spelled L-I-T-E-R-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, literal means “Exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in literal?

Letters7: L-I-T-E-R-A-L
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.9 times per million words; the 10,028th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

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 common is literal?

Literal appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th 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 literal?

  • /ˈlɪt(ə)ɹəl/

Literal 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)-Mélange_a_trois-literal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with literal

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

literal vs littoral0 B

Sounds like: littoral (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of literal

  • more literal comparative
  • most literal superlative
  • lit.
  • literals plural

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

What does literal mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Exactly as stated; read or understood without interpretation; according to the letter; not figurative or metaphorical; following the letter or exact words; not taking liberties; etymonic rather than idiomatic.

    The literal translation of Spanish irse al otro barrio is "to go to the other neighbourhood" but it means "to die".

  2. 2

    Actual, real, physical.

  3. 3

    That which generally assumes that the plainest reading of a given text is correct but which allows for metaphor where context indicates it.

  4. 4

    Following the historical-grammatical method of biblical interpretation.

  5. 5

    Consisting of, or expressed by, letters (of an alphabet); using literation.

    a literal equation

  6. 6

    Unimaginative; matter-of-fact; literal-minded.

  7. 7

    proscribedUsed nonliterally as an intensifier. See literally for usage notes.

    Telemarketers are the literal worst.

noun

  1. 1

    A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.

  2. 2

    An atomic formula (consisting of a propositional variable) or its negation.

  3. 3

    A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.

Usage

Wiktionary also records literal as a common misspelling of another word in some uses; the senses above are its own.

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

How do you abbreviate literal?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of literal: lit..

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

Literal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlittéral (exactly as stated; read or understood without…), épistolaire (consisting of, or expressed by, letters), littéraux (programming: value written in the source code)
Germanwörtlich, buchstäblich (exactly as stated; read or understood without…)
Portugueseliteral (exactly as stated; read or understood without…), constante (programming: value written in the source code)
Spanishliteral (exactly as stated; read or understood without…)

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 literal come from?

From Middle English literal, from Old French literal, from Late Latin litteralis or literalis (“of or pertaining to letters or to writing”), from Latin littera or litera (“a letter”). See letter.

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

What to look up after literal