naphtha
/ˈnæfθə/noun
naphtha is spelled N-A-P-H-T-H-A: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 81,375th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, naphtha means “Naturally occurring liquid petroleum” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of naphtha is naphthas.
How many letters and syllables are in naphtha?
| Letters | 7: N-A-P-H-T-H-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 81,375th 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 naphtha?
Naphtha appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 81,375th 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 naphtha?
- /ˈnæfθə/
- /ˈnæpθə/
Naphtha has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-naphtha.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of naphtha
- naphthas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does naphtha mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
datedNaturally occurring liquid petroleum.
- 2
Any of a wide variety of aliphatic or aromatic liquid hydrocarbon mixtures distilled from petroleum or coal tar, especially as used in solvents or petrol.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Naphtha in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense naturally occurring liquid petroleum:
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 naphtha come from?
From Latin naphtha, from Ancient Greek νάφθα (náphtha, “naphtha”), from Old Persian *naftah, probably borrowed or assimilated from Akkadian 𒉌𒆳𒊏 (napṭu, “naphtha”) . The Greek mediation is reflected in the spelling – ‘ph’ and ‘th’ (from ‘φ’ and ‘θ’).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).