Skip to main content
PlainSpell

momentum

/ˌmoʊˈmɛntəm/noun

momentum is spelled M-O-M-E-N-T-U-M: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, momentum means “Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of momentum is momentums or momenta.

How many letters and syllables are in momentum?

Letters8: M-O-M-E-N-T-U-M
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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

How common is momentum?

Momentum appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th 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 momentum?

  • UK /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/
  • US /ˌmoʊˈmɛntəm/
  • Australia /ˌməʉˈmentəm/

Momentum 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-momentum.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with momentum?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as momentum from its last stressed vowel (/ɛntəm/):

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 momentum

  • momentums plural
  • momenta plural

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

What does momentum mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products of its masses and velocities.

  2. 2

    Strength or force gained by motion or movement.

  3. 3

    The impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an idea or course of events; a moment.

  4. 4

    The surmise of an accelerated price trend in the analysis (technical or fundamental) of an asset.

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

Momentum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchquantité de mouvement (product of mass and velocity), élan (impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an…)
GermanImpuls (product of mass and velocity), Schwung, Wucht, Schwungkraft, Moment (impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an…)
Portuguesemomento (product of mass and velocity), ímpeto, impulso (impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an…)
Spanishmoméntum, viada, aviada, muebda (product of mass and velocity)

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 momentum come from?

Borrowed from Latin mōmentum. Doublet of moment and movement.

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

What to look up after momentum