messiah
/məˈsaɪ.ə/noun
messiah is spelled M-E-S-S-I-A-H: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, messiah means “The one who is ordained by God to lead the people of Israel, believed by Christians and Muslims to be Jesus Christ” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of messiah is messiahs.
How many letters and syllables are in messiah?
| Letters | 7: M-E-S-S-I-A-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th 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 messiah?
Messiah appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th 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 messiah?
- /məˈsaɪ.ə/
Messiah 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-messiah.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of messiah
- messiahs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does messiah mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The one who is ordained by God to lead the people of Israel, believed by Christians and Muslims to be Jesus Christ.
- 2
A similar religious figure or awaited divine ruler, such as the Islamic Mahdi.
- 3
An extremely powerful or revered figure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Messiah in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ordained to lead the people of Israel:
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 messiah come from?
From Middle English Messyas, Messy, Messie, from Latin Messīās, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek Μεσσίας (Messías), from Aramaic ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ (məšīḥā), from Biblical Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (māšîaḥ, “anointed”). Doublet of Masih and Moshiach.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).