machete
/məˈʃɛ.ti/noun, verb
machete is spelled M-A-C-H-E-T-E: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, machete means “A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of machete is machetes.
How many letters and syllables are in machete?
| Letters | 7: M-A-C-H-E-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is machete?
Machete appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th 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 machete?
- /məˈʃɛ.ti/
- /məˈt͡ʃɛ.ti/
- /məˈt͡ʃɛ.teɪ/
Machete 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: En-us-ncalif-machete.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-machete.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-machete.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with machete?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as machete.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: meetcha.
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 machete
- machetes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- macheteing participle, present
- macheted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does machete mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sword-like tool used for cutting large plants with a chopping motion, or used as a weapon.
Near-synonyms: (all sometimes or regionally synonymous) bolo, golok, panga, parang, sundang
- 2
A small stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal, having a double bulged body, traditionally of wood, with a small rib and four metallic strings, sometimes attached by wooden pegs.
verb
- 1
To cut or chop with a machete.
After some hours of intense work, we had macheted a path through the jungle to the bank of the river.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Machete in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a sword-like tool:
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 machete come from?
From Spanish machete, diminutive of macho (“sledgehammer”), from Latin mattea, possibly from mactare (“slaughter in sacrifice”); cognate with Old French machier, French massue, English mace.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).