metastasize
me·ta·stas·ize/məˈtæstəˌsaɪz/verb
metastasize is spelled M-E-T-A-S-T-A-S-I-Z-E, 4 syllables: me·ta·stas·ize. The wrong spelling people search most is metastisize: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Metastasize is a verb meaning “Of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary…”.
How many letters and syllables are in metastasize?
| Letters | 11: M-E-T-A-S-T-A-S-I-Z-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: me·ta·stas·ize |
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 93,703rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, metastisize, about 80 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 metastasize?
Metastasize is spelled M-E-T-A-S-T-A-S-I-Z-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for metastasize 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 metastasize?
Metastasize appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd 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 metastasize?
- UK /mɪˈtæstəsaɪz/
- US /məˈtæstəˌsaɪz/
Metastasize has 4 syllables, split me·ta·stas·ize in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-metastasize.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of metastasize
- metastasizes present, singular, he/she/it
- metastasizing participle, present
- metastasized participle, past
- metastasise
- metastatize
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does metastasize mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
BritishUSOf a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary site”) in (a body organ).
- 2
BritishUSTo disseminate or spread (something, often an undesirable thing), especially in a destructive manner.
- 3
BritishUSOf a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to undergo metastasis (“spreading from a primary site to one or more other sites in the body”).
- 4
BritishUSOf a thing, often one which is undesirable: to disseminate or spread, especially in a destructive manner.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Metastasize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (transitive) of a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis :
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | métastaser |
| German | metastasieren, absiedeln |
| Spanish | metastatizar, metastizar |
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 metastasize come from?
From metastasis + -ize (suffix forming verbs meaning to do things denoted by the adjectives or nouns the suffix is attached to).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).