mackerel
mack·e·rel/ˈmæk(ə)ɹəl/noun
mackerel is spelled M-A-C-K-E-R-E-L, 3 syllables: mack·e·rel. The wrong spelling people search most is mackeral: about 520 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Mackerel is a noun meaning “Certain smaller edible fish, principally true mackerel and Spanish mackerel in family Scombridae, often…”. The plural of mackerel is mackerels.
How many letters and syllables are in mackerel?
| Letters | 8: M-A-C-K-E-R-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: mack·e·rel |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, mackeral, about 520 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell mackerel?
Mackerel is spelled M-A-C-K-E-R-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for mackerel in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is mackerel?
Mackerel appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd 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 mackerel?
- /ˈmæk(ə)ɹəl/
Mackerel has 3 syllables, split mack·e·rel in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mackerel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mackerel
- mackerels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mackerel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Certain smaller edible fish, principally true mackerel and Spanish mackerel in family Scombridae, often speckled,
- 2
Typically Scomber scombrus in the British isles.
- 3
A true mackerel, any fish of tribe Scombrini (Scomber spp., Rastrelliger spp.)
- 4
Certain other similar small fish in families Carangidae, Gempylidae, and Hexagrammidae.
- 5
A regular pattern, similar to fish scales, of undulating small clouds with sky visible between them.
a mackerel sky
- 6
obsoleteA pimp; also, a bawd.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mackerel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense edible fish:
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 mackerel come from?
From Middle English mackerell, macrell, macrelle, makarell, makerel, makerell, makerelle, makrel, makrell, makyrelle, from Old French maquerel. Further origin unknown.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).