maxim
/ˈmæk.sɪm/noun
maxim is spelled M-A-X-I-M: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, maxim means “A precept; a succinct statement or observation of a rule of conduct or moral teaching” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of maxim is maxims.
How many letters and syllables are in maxim?
| Letters | 5: M-A-X-I-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words; the 17,342nd 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 maxim?
Maxim appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd 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 maxim?
- UK /ˈmæk.sɪm/
- US /ˈmæk.sɪm/
- US /ˈmæk.səm/
Maxim has 2 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-maxim.ogg, En-au-maxim.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of maxim
- maxims plural
- maxim gun
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does maxim mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA self-evident axiom or premise; a pithy expression of a general principle or rule.
- 2
A precept; a succinct statement or observation of a rule of conduct or moral teaching.
- 3
Alternative letter-case form of Maxim.
noun
- 1
The Maxim gun, a British machine gun of various calibres used by the British army from 1889 until World War I.
- 2
Any machine gun that derives from the design pattern of Maxim's patented design
- 3
informalobsoleteA machine gun
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Maxim in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense moral precept:
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 maxim come from?
From Anglo-Norman maxime and Middle French maxime, from Late Latin maxima (“axiom”), noun use of the feminine singular form of Latin maximus (apparently as used in the phrase prōpositiō maxima (“greatest premise”)). Doublet of maxima.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).