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missive

miss·ive/ˈmɪsɪv/noun, adjective

missive is spelled M-I-S-S-I-V-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (miss·ive). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 61,481st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, missive means “A written message; a letter, note or memo” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of missive is missives.

How many letters and syllables are in missive?

Letters7: M-I-S-S-I-V-E
Syllables2: miss·ive
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 61,481st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is missive?

Missive appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 61,481st 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 missive?

  • US /ˈmɪsɪv/

Missive has 2 syllables, split miss·ive in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-missive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with missive?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as missive from its last stressed vowel (/ɪsɪv/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of missive

  • missives plural

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

What does missive mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A written message; a letter, note or memo.

  2. 2

    Letters sent between two parties in which one makes an offer and the other accepts it.

  3. 3

    obsoleteOne who is sent; a messenger.

adjective

  1. 1

    Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent.

    a letter missive

  2. 2

    obsoleteServing as a missile; intended to be thrown.

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

Missive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmissive (a written message)
GermanSendschreiben, Schrieb, Schreiben (a written message)
Portuguesemissiva (a written message)
Spanishmisiva (a written message), misivo (Translations)

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 missive come from?

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin missīvus, from mittō (“to send”).

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

What to look up after missive