litotes
li·to·tes/laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/noun
litotes is spelled L-I-T-O-T-E-S: 7 letters and 3 syllables (li·to·tes). It appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, litotes means “A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in litotes?
| Letters | 7: L-I-T-O-T-E-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: li·to·tes |
| In writing | about once in every 59 million words; the 240,237th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is litotes?
Litotes appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th 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 litotes?
- UK /laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/
Litotes has 3 syllables, split li·to·tes in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-litotes.wav, Litotes.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does litotes mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite.
- 2
The negation of a negative quality to assert a positive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Litotes in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense rhetoric: stating a point by denying its opposite:
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 litotes come from?
Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).