marinate
/ˈmæɹɪneɪt/verb, adjective
marinate is spelled M-A-R-I-N-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, marinate means “To allow a sauce or flavoring mixture to absorb into something; to steep or soak something in a marinade to flavor or prepare it for cooking” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in marinate?
| Letters | 8: M-A-R-I-N-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 47,633rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is marinate?
Marinate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd 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 marinate?
- /ˈmæɹɪneɪt/
Marinate 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-marinate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of marinate
- marinates present, singular, he/she/it
- marinating participle, present
- marinated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does marinate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To allow a sauce or flavoring mixture to absorb into something; to steep or soak something in a marinade to flavor or prepare it for cooking.
You'll get a better flavour from the chicken if you marinate it first.
- 2
To allow a substance to be absobed into the hair or scalp.
- 3
Of a substance, to absorb into the hair or scalp.
- 4
Of ideas or feelings, to mentally develop over time.
- 5
informalEspecially of a haircut, to settle in and for one to get used to it.
It's not a bad haircut! You just got to let it marinate!
adjective
- 1
rareMarinated.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Marinate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense soak in marinade:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mariner |
| German | marinieren |
| Portuguese | marinar |
| Spanish | marinar, adobar |
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 marinate come from?
First attested in 1645; adapted from either French mariner or the earlier attested Italian marinare (“to pickle, marinate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Late Latin marina (“brine, salt water”), short for aqua marina (“sea water”), from Latin marinus (“marine, of the sea”), from Latin mare (“the sea”) from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“the sea”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).