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PlainSpell

liver

liv·er/ˈlɪvɚ/noun, adjective

liver is spelled L-I-V-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (liv·er). It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, liver means “A large organ in the body that stores and metabolizes nutrients, destroys toxins and produces bile. It is responsible for thousands of biochemical…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of liver is livers.

How many letters and syllables are in liver?

Letters5: L-I-V-E-R
Syllables2: liv·er
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,309th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is liver?

Liver appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 liver?

  • UK /ˈlɪvə/
  • US /ˈlɪvɚ/

As a noun (“Someone who lives (usually in a specified way)”): /ˈlɪvə(ɹ)/.

As an adjective: /ˈlaɪvə(ɹ)/.

Liver has 2 syllables, split liv·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-liver.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-liver.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with liver?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as liver from its last stressed vowel (/ɪvəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: livre.

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 liver

  • livers plural

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

What does liver mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A large organ in the body that stores and metabolizes nutrients, destroys toxins and produces bile. It is responsible for thousands of biochemical reactions.

    Steve Jobs is a famous liver transplant recipient.

  2. 2

    This organ, as taken from animals used as food.

    I'd like some goose liver pate.

  3. 3

    A dark brown colour, tinted with red and gray, like the colour of liver.

  4. 4

    obsoleteAny of various chemical compounds–particularly sulfides–thought to resemble livers in color.

    He gave his horse some liver of antimony.

  5. 5

    Someone who lives (usually in a specified way).

  6. 6

    Someone who is alive: one of the living.

    Thou king of heaven, which […] Dost see the secret of each livers heart.

  7. 7

    Someone who lives in a particular place; an inhabitant, a dweller.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of the colour of liver (dark brown, tinted with red and gray).

  2. 2

    comparative form of live: more live (a form of live)

    Seeing things on a big screen somehow makes them seem liver.

adjective

as Liver
  1. 1

    rareFrom or pertaining to Liverpool.

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

Liver in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfoie (organ of the body)
GermanLeber, Lawra, Lewa (organ of the body)
Portuguesefígado (organ of the body), cachola (organ as food)
Spanishhígado (organ of the body), rojo hígado (colour)

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 liver come from?

From Middle English lyvere, lyver, from Old English lifer (“liver”), from Proto-West Germanic *libru, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smear, smudge, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Líeuwer, Lieuwer (“liver”),German Leber (“liver”), Danish, Dutch, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish, and West Frisian lever (“liver”), Faroese livur (“liver”), Icelandic lifur (“liver”). Related to live.

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

What to look up after liver