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office

of·fice/ˈɔ.fɪs/noun, verb

office is spelled O-F-F-I-C-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (of·fice). It appears 251 times per million words in written English, the 387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, office means “A ceremonial duty or service, particularly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of office is offices.

How many letters and syllables are in office?

Letters6: O-F-F-I-C-E
Syllables2: of·fice
In writing251 times per million words; the 387th 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 office?

Office appears 251 times per million words in written English, the 387th 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 office?

  • UK /ˈɒf.ɪs/
  • British /ˈɔf.ɪs/
  • US /ˈɔ.fɪs/

Office has 2 syllables, split of·fice in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-office.ogg, En-us-office.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with office

Also written: off-ice (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of office

  • offices plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • officing participle, present
  • officed participle, past

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

What does office mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A ceremonial duty or service, particularly

  2. 2

    The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church.

  3. 3

    Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin.

  4. 4

    A daily service without the eucharist.

  5. 5

    The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.

    In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.

  6. 6

    Various prayers used with modification as a morning or evening service.

  7. 7

    Last rites.

  8. 8

    obsoleteMass, (particularly) the introit sung at its beginning.

verb

  1. 1

    To provide (someone) with an office.

  2. 2

    To have an office.

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

How do you abbreviate office?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of office: off..

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

Office in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchoffice (ceremonial religious duty or rite), bureau (room(s) or building used for non-manual work)
GermanDienst, Amt (ceremonial religious duty or rite), Büro, Kontor (room(s) or building used for non-manual work)
Portugueseofício (ceremonial religious duty or rite), escritório (room(s) or building used for non-manual work), cargo (position of responsibility)
Spanishoficio (ceremonial religious duty or rite), oficina, sede, despacho (room(s) or building used for non-manual work)

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 office come from?

From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)). In the religious sense, Displaced native Old English hād. The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

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

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