neophyte
ne·o·phyte/ˈniː.əˌfaɪt/noun
neophyte is spelled N-E-O-P-H-Y-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables (ne·o·phyte). It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, neophyte means “A beginner; a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of neophyte is neophytes.
How many letters and syllables are in neophyte?
| Letters | 8: N-E-O-P-H-Y-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ne·o·phyte |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is neophyte?
Neophyte appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th 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 neophyte?
- /ˈniː.əˌfaɪt/
- /ˈniː.oʊˌfaɪt/
Neophyte has 3 syllables, split ne·o·phyte in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-neophyte.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of neophyte
- neophytes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does neophyte mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A beginner; a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.
- 2
A novice (recent convert); a new convert or proselyte; a new monk.
- 3
Among the early Christians, and still among the Roman Catholics, one who has recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, especially those converts from heathenism or Judaism.
- 4
A plant species recently introduced to an area (in contrast to archaeophyte, a long-established introduced species).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Neophyte in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | néophyte |
| German | Beginner , Neophyt |
| Portuguese | neófito |
| Spanish | neófito , planta neófita |
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 neophyte come from?
Borrowed from Latin neophytus, from Ancient Greek νεόφυτος (neóphutos, “newly planted”), from νέος (néos, “new”) + φυτόν (phutón, “plant, child”). By surface analysis, neo- + -phyte.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).