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long

UK /lɒŋ/adjective, noun, verb, adverb

long is spelled L-O-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 646 times per million words in written English, the 152nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, long means “Having much distance in space from one end to the other” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in long?

Letters4: L-O-N-G
Syllables1
In writing646 times per million words; the 152nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

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

How common is long?

Long appears 646 times per million words in written English, the 152nd 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 long?

  • UK /lɒŋ/
  • /lɔːŋ/
  • /lʊŋɡ/

Long has one syllable.

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

Words people confuse with long

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

long vs longue0 B

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

What rhymes with long?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as long from its last stressed vowel (/ɒŋ/, British pronunciation):

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 long

  • longer comparative
  • more long comparative
  • longest superlative
  • most long superlative
  • lang
  • longs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • longing participle, present
  • longed participle, past
  • lóngs plural
  • longs. plural

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

What does long mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Having much distance in space from one end to the other.

    I need a long piece of wood.

  2. 2

    Specifically, having much distance in a horizontal dimension (see also Usage Notes below).

    This table is long but not very high.

  3. 3

    Travelling a great distance.

    Smith hoofs a long ball up to Jones.

  4. 4

    informalHaving a long penis.

    My ex was very strong but not very long.

  5. 5

    Passing or landing ahead of or beyond the intended target or location.

    The plane touched down long and overran the end of the runway.

  6. 6

    Going beyond the intended target.

    That forehand was long. It landed two feet beyond the baseline.

  7. 7

    Having great duration.

    His speech was long and dull.

  8. 8

    Seeming to last a lot of time, due to being boring, tedious, tiring, irksome, etc.

    It took us three long weeks to clear the stones from the field.

  9. 9

    archaicOn account of, because of.

noun

  1. 1

    A long vowel.

  2. 2

    A long syllable.

  3. 3

    A note formerly used in music, one half the length of a large, twice that of a breve.

  4. 4

    A long integer variable, twice the size of an int, two or four times the size of a short, and half of a long long.

    A long is typically 64 bits in a 32-bit environment.

  5. 5

    An entity with a long position in an asset; for example, a trader or investor possessing an amount of a company's shares.

    Every uptick made the longs cheer.

  6. 6

    A long-maturity security, such as a ten- or twenty-year bond.

    "U.S. Treasury Market Structure", https://www.mfaalts.org/issue/u-s-treasury-market-structure/ Hedge funds are constrained in how much leverage they can utilize, in part because the futures contracts they are shorting against their Treasury

  7. 7

    datedClipping of long vacation (“summer vacation”).

  8. 8

    Ellipsis of long bond paper.

  9. 9

    Abbreviation of longitude.

verb

  1. 1

    To take a long position in.

  2. 2

    To await, aspire, desire greatly (something to occur or to be true).

    She longed for him to come back.

  3. 3

    archaicTo be appropriate to, to pertain or belong to.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo belong.

adverb

  1. 1

    Over a great distance in space.

    Every golfer wants to hit the ball long and straight.

  2. 2

    Over too great a distance, beyond the target.

    She hit her return long and lost the point.

  3. 3

    For a particular duration (specified by additional qualifying words accompanying it).

    How long is it until the next bus arrives?

  4. 4

    For a long time.

    Paris has long been considered one of the most cultured cities in the world.

  5. 5

    rareFor a long time.

  6. 6

    A long time (see usage notes).

    Will this interview take long?

  7. 7

    A long time ago.

noun

as lóng
  1. 1

    Alternative form of loong.

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

How do you abbreviate long?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of long: lg..

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

Long in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlong (having much distance from one point to another), temps, combien de temps (for a particular duration), longtemps (for a long duration), aspirer à, se languir (to wait, to aspire)
Germanlang (having much distance from one point to another), lange (for a particular duration), (sich) sehnen (to wait, to aspire), weit (over a great distance)
Portugueselongo, comprido (having much distance from one point to another), quanto tempo (for a particular duration), por muito/bastante tempo, demorar (for a long duration), longe (over a great distance)
Spanishlargo, luengo, longo (having much distance from one point to another), lejos, lueñe (over a great distance)

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 long come from?

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”).

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

What to look up after long