nine
/naɪn/number, noun
nine is spelled N-I-N-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, nine means “A numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and preceding ten” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in nine?
| Letters | 4: N-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 74 times per million words; the 1,427th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 nine?
Nine appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th 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 nine?
- US /naɪn/
- US [naɪ̯n]
Nine 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-nine.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with nine?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as nine from its last stressed vowel (/aɪn/):
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 nine
- nines plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
number
- 1
A numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and preceding ten.
- 2
Describing a group or set with nine elements.
A cat has nine lives.
noun
- 1
The digit or figure 9.
- 2
A playing card with nine pips.
- 3
A nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol.
- 4
A statistical unit of proportion (of reliability, purity, etc.), counting the number of digits nine in a percentage.
They guaranteed that our Web site would have 99.99% uptime, or four nines.
- 5
A baseball club, team, or lineup (composed of nine players).
The St. Louis club is the only nine in the league which gives its patrons the right to see a full game or no pay.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 nine come from?
From Middle English nyn, nyne, from Old English nigon (“nine”), from Proto-West Germanic *neun, from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).