masturbate
mas·tur·bate/ˈmæs.tɚ.beɪt/verb
masturbate is spelled M-A-S-T-U-R-B-A-T-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables (mas·tur·bate). It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, masturbate means “To stimulate oneself sexually, especially by use of one’s hand or a sex toy made for this purpose, often to the point of ejaculation or orgasm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in masturbate?
| Letters | 10: M-A-S-T-U-R-B-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: mas·tur·bate |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,965th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is masturbate?
Masturbate appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th 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 masturbate?
- UK /ˈmæ.stə.beɪt/
- US /ˈmæs.tɚ.beɪt/
- Australia /ˈmaː.stə.bæɪt/
Masturbate has 3 syllables, split mas·tur·bate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-masturbate.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of masturbate
- masturbates present, singular, he/she/it
- masturbating participle, present
- masturbated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does masturbate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To stimulate oneself sexually, especially by use of one’s hand or a sex toy made for this purpose, often to the point of ejaculation or orgasm.
I'm looking for some hot videos to masturbate to.
- 2
colloquialTo manually or by other means than one's own genitals stimulate someone else's genitals sexually.
- 3
derogatoryinformalTo stimulate or please oneself by means of anything, not necessarily sexual, that does not get them anywhere; something that wastes their time; something that does not help others or achieve any important goal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate masturbate?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of masturbate: bate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Masturbate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to masturbate:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | masturber, manualiser, branler |
| German | masturbieren, sich befriedigen, (sich) selbstbefriedigen, onanieren, sich einen runterholen, wichsen |
| Portuguese | masturbar-se, masturbar |
| Spanish | masturbarse, masturbar |
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 masturbate come from?
A back-formation from masturbation, or else from Latin masturbātus (see -ate), past participle of masturbor. Further derivation of the Latin verb is uncertain; see masturbor for more.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).