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PlainSpell

offertory

/ˈɑfəɹˌtɔɹi/noun

offertory is spelled O-F-F-E-R-T-O-R-Y: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, offertory means “A prayer said or sung as an anthem while offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar during the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of offertory is offertories.

How many letters and syllables are in offertory?

Letters9: O-F-F-E-R-T-O-R-Y
In writingabout once in every 13 million words; the 107,757th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 offertory?

Offertory appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 107,757th 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 offertory?

  • UK /ˈɒfət(ə)ɹi/
  • US /ˈɑfəɹˌtɔɹi/

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

Forms of offertory

  • offertories plural

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

What does offertory mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A prayer said or sung as an anthem while offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar during the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion service.

  2. 2

    The part of the Eucharist service when offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar and when any collection is taken; also, the money or other things collected.

  3. 3

    A linen or silken cloth anciently used in various ceremonies connected with the administration of the Eucharist.

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

Offertory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanGabenbereitung (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to…), Kollekte (money offered or donated during a church service), Offertorium (music sung or played during the offertory of a…)
Portugueseofertório (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to…)
Spanishofertorio (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to…)

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 offertory come from?

From Late Latin offertorium, from the participle stem of offere (“to offer”).

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

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