next
/nɛkst/adjective, determiner, adverb, noun
next is spelled N-E-X-T. The wrong spelling people search most is enxt: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 3,333 of all searches for the word. Next is an adjective meaning “Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining”.
How many letters and syllables are in next?
| Letters | 4: N-E-X-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 501 times per million words; the 192nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, enxt, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell next?
Next is spelled N-E-X-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 3,574 of the searches for next in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is next?
Next appears 501 times per million words in written English, the 192nd 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 next?
- /nɛkst/
Next has one syllable (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-next.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-next.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with next
Also written: nex.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of next
- neist
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does next mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining.
The man in the next bunk kept me awake all night with his snoring.
- 2
obsoleteMost direct, or shortest or nearest in distance or time.
- 3
Nearest in order, succession, or rank; immediately following (or sometimes preceding) in order.
Please turn to the next page.
- 4
Nearest in relationship. (See also next of kin.)
next friend
determiner
- 1
Denotes the one immediately following the current or most recent one.
Next week would be a good time to meet.
- 2
Closest in the future, or closest but one if the closest is very soon; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) in the future.
The party is next Tuesday; that is, not tomorrow, but eight days from now.
adverb
- 1
In a time, place, rank or sequence closest or following.
They live in the next closest house.
- 2
So as to follow in time or sequence something previously mentioned.
First we removed all the handles; next, we stripped off the old paint.
- 3
On the first subsequent occasion.
Financial panic, earthquakes, oil spills, riots. What comes next?
noun
- 1
The one that follows after this one.
Next, please, don't hold up the queue!
- 2
Next match
gg team, Wanna play next?
noun
- 1
Initialism of near-end crosstalk.
preposition
- 1
obsoleteOn the side of; nearest or adjacent to; next to.
The fact that the line cannot be original is patent from the fact that Aias in the rest of the Iliad is not encamped next the Athenians […] .
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate next?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of next: nxt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Next in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prochain, suivant , proche , puis, après , à côté |
| German | nächster , neben , der/die Nächste |
| Portuguese | próximo, seguinte , perto , a seguir, depois , ao lado |
| Spanish | próximo , después, a continuación, seguidamente , junto a, al lado/costado de |
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 next come from?
From Middle English nexte, nexste, nixte, from Old English nīehsta, nīehste, etc., inflected forms of nīehst (“nearest, next”), superlative form of nēah (“nigh”) (the comparative would become near), corresponding to Proto-Germanic *nēhwist (“nearest, closest”); equivalent to nigh + -est.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).