modern
mod·ern/ˈmɑ.dɚn/adjective, noun
modern is spelled M-O-D-E-R-N, 2 syllables: mod·ern. The wrong spelling people search most is mordern: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 192 of all searches for the word. Modern is an adjective meaning “Pertaining to a current or recent time and style; not ancient”.
How many letters and syllables are in modern?
| Letters | 6: M-O-D-E-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: mod·ern |
| In writing | 117 times per million words; the 904th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, mordern, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell modern?
Modern is spelled M-O-D-E-R-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 192 of the searches for modern 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 modern?
Modern appears 117 times per million words in written English, the 904th 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 modern?
- UK /ˈmɒd.ən/
- UK [ˈmɒd.n̩]
- US /ˈmɑ.dɚn/
Modern has 2 syllables, split mod·ern in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-modern.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with modern
Also written: moderne.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with modern?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as modern (/ɑdəɹn/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: normed.
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 modern
- moderner comparative
- more modern comparative
- modernest superlative
- most modern superlative
- modernmost superlative
- moderns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does modern mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to a current or recent time and style; not ancient.
Our online interactive game is a modern approach to teaching about gum disease. Although it was built in the 1600s, the building still has a very modern look.
- 2
Pertaining to the modern period (c.1800 to contemporary times), particularly in academic historiography.
noun
- 1
Someone who lives in modern times.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate modern?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of modern: mod..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Modern in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pertaining to the current time and style:
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 modern come from?
From Middle French moderne, from Late Latin modernus; from Latin modo (“just now”), originally ablative of modus (“measure”); hence, by measure, "just now". See also mode.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).