millet
/ˈmɪlət/noun
millet is spelled M-I-L-L-E-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, millet means “Any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food, widely cultivated in the developing world” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of millet is millets.
How many letters and syllables are in millet?
| Letters | 6: M-I-L-L-E-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th 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 millet?
Millet appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th 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 millet?
- UK /ˈmɪlɪt/
- US /ˈmɪlət/
As a noun (“A semi-autonomous confessional community under the Ottoman…”): /ˈmɪlɛt/.
Millet 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-millet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of millet
- millets plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does millet mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food, widely cultivated in the developing world.
- 2
Common millet, in particular of species Panicum miliaceum.
- 3
A semi-autonomous confessional community under the Ottoman Empire, especially a non-Muslim one.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Millet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | millet, mil |
| German | Hirse |
| Portuguese | milheto, milhete, painço |
| Spanish | mijo, panizo, millo, borona |
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 millet come from?
From late Middle English, borrowed from Middle French millet; from Latin milium, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”), see also Ancient Greek μελίνη (melínē, “millet”) and Lithuanian málnos (“millet”). Not related to مِلَّة (milla).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).