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PlainSpell

neuter

/ˈn(j)utɚ/adjective, noun, verb

neuter is spelled N-E-U-T-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, neuter means “Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in neuter?

Letters6: N-E-U-T-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 neuter?

Neuter appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th 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 neuter?

  • UK /ˈnjuːtə/
  • US /ˈn(j)utɚ/

Neuter 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-neuter.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with neuter?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as neuter from its last stressed vowel (/utəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tenure, tureen, retune.

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 neuter

  • more neuter comparative
  • most neuter superlative
  • n.
  • n
  • ntr
  • neuters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • neutering participle, present
  • neutered participle, past

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

What does neuter mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another.

  2. 2

    Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender.

    a neuter noun

  3. 3

    Intransitive.

    a neuter verb

  4. 4

    Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs.

  5. 5

    Sexless, non-sexual.

  6. 6

    Castrated; having had the reproductive organs removed.

noun

  1. 1

    An organism, either vegetable or animal, which at its maturity has no generative organs, or but imperfectly developed ones, as a plant without stamens or pistils, as the garden Hydrangea; especially, one of the imperfectly developed females of certain social insects, as of the ant and the common honeybee, which perform the labors of the community, and are called workers.

  2. 2

    offensiveOne who has been neutered; eunuch.

  3. 3

    The act of neutering (typically an animal)

  4. 4

    A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral.

  5. 5

    The neuter gender.

  6. 6

    A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.

  7. 7

    An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.

    Make one do, or act (to), fare fare, fare agire, with an accusative when the verb is a neuter, and with a dative when otherwise.

verb

  1. 1

    To remove sex organs from an animal to prevent it from having offspring; to castrate or spay, particularly as applied to domestic animals.

  2. 2

    To rid of sexuality.

  3. 3

    To drastically reduce the effectiveness of something.

    Congress neutered the bill by adding an exception for big corporations.

  4. 4

    To make grammatically neuter.

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

How do you abbreviate neuter?

Wiktionary records 5 abbreviations of neuter: n, n., neut, neut., ntr..

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

Neuter in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchimpartial (neutral, neither one thing nor another), neutre (grammar: having a form which is not masculine…), asexuel (having no generative organs, or imperfectly…), castrer, châtrer (to remove sex organs from an animal)
Germanneutral (neutral, neither one thing nor another), neutrisch, sächlich, neuter (grammar: having a form which is not masculine…), intransitiv (grammar: intransitive – see also intransitive), sächliches Geschlecht (the neuter gender (grammar))
Portugueseneutro (neutral, neither one thing nor another), castrar, capar (to remove sex organs from an animal), intransitivo (grammar: intransitive – see also intransitive)
Spanishneutral, neutro (neutral, neither one thing nor another), castrar, capar (to remove sex organs from an animal)

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 neuter come from?

Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“either”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English either, English whether, and neither.

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

What to look up after neuter