museum
/mjuˈziəm/noun, verb
museum is spelled M-U-S-E-U-M: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, museum means “A building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of museum is museums; Wiktionary also lists musea (rare).
How many letters and syllables are in museum?
| Letters | 6: M-U-S-E-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 51 times per million words; the 1,993rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 museum?
Museum appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd 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 museum?
- UK /mjuːˈziːəm/
- US /mjuˈziəm/
- US /mjuˈzim/
Museum 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-museum.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with museum?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as museum from its last stressed vowel (/iəm/):
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 museum
- museums plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- musea plural, rare
- museuming participle, present
- museumed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does museum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, cultural or artistic value.
visit the history museum
verb
- 1
To place in a museum.
- 2
colloquialTo visit museums.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Museum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense building or institution:
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 museum come from?
From Latin mūsēum (“library, study”), from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon), shrine of the Muses (Μοῦσα (Moûsa)). Doublet of mosaic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).