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milk

/mɪlk/noun, verb

milk is spelled M-I-L-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, milk means “A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of milk is milks.

How many letters and syllables are in milk?

Letters4: M-I-L-K
Syllables1
In writing46 times per million words; the 2,204th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 milk?

Milk appears 46 times per million words in written English, the 2,204th 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 milk?

  • /mɪlk/
  • Canada /mɛlk/
  • /milk/

Milk has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-milk.ogg, En-us-milk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of milk

  • milks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • milking participle, present
  • milked participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does milk mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt.

    Skyr is a product made of curdled milk.

  2. 2

    A white (or whitish) liquid obtained from a vegetable source such as almonds, coconuts, oats, rice, or soy beans.

  3. 3

    informalAn individual serving of milk.

    Table three ordered three milks.

  4. 4

    An individual portion of milk, such as found in a creamer, for tea and coffee.

    I take my tea with two milks and two sugars.

  5. 5

    A light white color inspired by the color of milk, usually cow's milk.

  6. 6

    The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster.

  7. 7

    slangvulgarSemen.

verb

  1. 1

    To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow).

    The farmer milked his cows.

  2. 2

    To draw (milk) from the breasts or udder.

    to milk wholesome milk from healthy cows

  3. 3

    Of a dairy cow, to produce milk.

  4. 4

    rareTo secrete (milk) from the breasts or udder.

  5. 5

    To express a liquid from a creature.

    The Australian government has a team that regularly milks various snakes for venom to use creating serums and antivenoms.

  6. 6

    To make excessive use of (a particular point in speech or writing, a source of funds, etc.); to exploit; to take advantage of (something).

    When the audience began laughing, the comedian milked the joke for more laughs.

  7. 7

    To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation.

  8. 8

    vulgarTo masturbate a male to ejaculation, especially for the amusement or satisfaction of the masturbator rather than the person masturbated.

    Controlled milking can actually establish and consolidate a mistress’s dominance over her sub rather than diminish it.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Milk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlait (liquid), traire (to express milk from mammal)
GermanMilch (liquid), melken (to express milk from mammal), ausschöpfen, ausreizen (to take advantage of situation)
Portugueseleite (liquid), ordenhar, mungir (to express milk from mammal)
Spanishleche, milk (liquid), ordeñar, muir (to express milk from mammal)

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 milk come from?

From Middle English milk, mylk, melk, mulc, from Old English meolc, meoluc (“milk”), from Proto-West Germanic *meluk (“milk”), from Proto-Germanic *meluks (“milk”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“milk, to milk”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after milk