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navy

/ˈneɪvi/noun, adjective

navy is spelled N-A-V-Y: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, navy means “A country's entire maritime military force, including ships and personnel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of navy is navies.

How many letters and syllables are in navy?

Letters4: N-A-V-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing37 times per million words; the 2,618th 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 navy?

Navy appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 navy?

  • US /ˈneɪvi/
  • British /ˈnɛjvɪj/
  • Australia /ˈnæɪvi/

Navy 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: En-us-navy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with navy?

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

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 navy

  • navies plural
  • more navy comparative
  • most navy superlative

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

What does navy mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A country's entire maritime military force, including ships and personnel.

    People who get seasick easily shouldn't join the navy.

  2. 2

    A governmental department in charge of a country's maritime military force.

  3. 3

    archaicAny fleet of maritime vessels, and especially the entire fleet of any particular nationality, including vessels that are commercial, military, or both.

  4. 4

    A dark blue colour, usually called navy blue.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having the dark blue colour of navy blue.

  2. 2

    Belonging to the navy; typical of the navy.

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

How do you abbreviate navy?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of navy: N.

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

Navy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchforce navale, flotte, marine (sea force), bleu marine (navy blue colour), naval, marin (belonging to the navy)
GermanMarine, Flotte, Seestreitkräfte (sea force), Marineblau (navy blue colour), Marineamt (department), marineblau (having a navy (dark blue) colour – see also…)
Portuguesemarinha (sea force), azul-marinho (navy blue colour), da marinha (belonging to the navy)
Spanishmarina, armada, naval (sea force), azul marino, turquí, azul turquí (navy blue colour)

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 navy come from?

From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis (“boat”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Persian ناو (nâv, “boat, warship”), Sanskrit नाव (nāva, “ship”), Old English nōwend (“mariner, sailor”). By surface analysis, Latin nav- + -y. Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).

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

What to look up after navy