mountain
moun·tain/ˈmaʊn.t(ə)n/noun
mountain is spelled M-O-U-N-T-A-I-N, 2 syllables: moun·tain. The wrong spelling people search most is mountian: about 390 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 41 of all searches for the word. Mountain is a noun meaning “An elevation of land of considerable dimensions rising more or less abruptly, forming a conspicuous figure in…”. The plural of mountain is mountains.
How many letters and syllables are in mountain?
| Letters | 8: M-O-U-N-T-A-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: moun·tain |
| In writing | 54 times per million words; the 1,899th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, mountian, about 390 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell mountain?
Mountain is spelled M-O-U-N-T-A-I-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 42 of the searches for mountain 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 mountain?
Mountain appears 54 times per million words in written English, the 1,899th 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 mountain?
- UK /ˈmaʊn.tɪn/
- /ˈmuːn.tɪn/
- US /ˈmaʊn.t(ə)n/
Mountain has 2 syllables, split moun·tain in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-mountain.ogg, En-us-mountain.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Exilexi-mountain.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mountain
- mountains plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mountain mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An elevation of land of considerable dimensions rising more or less abruptly, forming a conspicuous figure in the landscape, usually having a small extent of surface at its summit.
Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
- 2
Something very large in size or quantity; a huge amount; a great heap.
He was a real mountain of a man, standing seven feet tall.
- 3
A difficult task or challenge.
- 4
Wine from Malaga made from grapes that grow on a mountain.
- 5
slangA woman's large breast.
- 6
The twenty-first Lenormand card.
noun
- 1
A steam locomotive of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate mountain?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of mountain: Mt., mntn., mtn, mtn..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mountain in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | montagne, mont |
| German | Berg , Haufen |
| Portuguese | montanha, monte |
| Spanish | montaña , montón |
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 mountain come from?
From Middle English mountayne, mountain, montaigne, from Anglo-Norman muntaine, muntaigne, from Early Medieval Latin montānia, a collective based on Latin montem (“mountain”), from Proto-Indo-European *monti (compare Welsh mynydd (“mountain”), Albanian mat (“bank, shore”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬙𐬌 (mati, “promontory”)), from *men- (“to project, stick out”). Displaced native English barrow (from Old English beorg) and down (from Old English dūn), and partially displaced non-native Old English munt, from Latin mōns (whence English mount).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).