mound
/maʊnd/noun, verb
mound is spelled M-O-U-N-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mound means “An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mound is mounds.
How many letters and syllables are in mound?
| Letters | 5: M-O-U-N-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th 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 mound?
Mound appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th 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 mound?
- /maʊnd/
Mound has one syllable (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-au-mound.ogg, En-uk-mound.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mound
- mounds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- mounding participle, present
- mounded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mound mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense
- 2
A natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.
- 3
An elevated area of dirt upon which the pitcher stands to pitch.
The pitcher was waiting at the mound.
- 4
A ball or globe forming part of the regalia of an emperor or other sovereign. It is encircled with bands, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted with a cross.
- 5
USslangvulgarThe mons veneris.
- 6
slangvulgarA woman's breast.
[…] the men were now also massaging her mounds, their fingers soothing and kneading while they sucked at her aching nipples.
- 7
obsoleteA hand.
- 8
obsoleteA protection; restraint; curb.
verb
- 1
To fortify with a mound; add a barrier, rampart, etc. to.
- 2
To force or pile into a mound or mounds.
He mounded up his mashed potatoes so they left more space on the plate for the meat.
- 3
To form a mound.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mound in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | butte, monticule , tertre , butter |
| German | Erdhügel, Erdwall , Hügel |
| Portuguese | pilha, monte, cômoro , montinho, montículo , amontoar |
| Spanish | montículo , apilar, amontonar |
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 mound come from?
From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundu, from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).