militia
/məˈlɪʃə/noun
militia is spelled M-I-L-I-T-I-A: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, militia means “An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of militia is militias or militiae.
How many letters and syllables are in militia?
| Letters | 7: M-I-L-I-T-I-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd 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 militia?
Militia appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd 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 militia?
- /məˈlɪʃə/
Militia 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: En-us-militia.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of militia
- militias plural
- militiae plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does militia mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which may also be called upon, or a private force not under government control.
- 2
Synonym of militsia: the national police force of certain countries (e.g. Belarus).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Militia in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense army of trained civilians called upon in time of need:
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 militia come from?
From Latin mīlitia (“army, military force/service”), from mīles (“soldier”). Doublet of militsia. The use of "militia" rather than "police" to refer to the police force (of Belarus and some other countries) originated in the USSR.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).