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oval

/ˈoʊvəl/noun, adjective

oval is spelled O-V-A-L: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, oval means “A two-dimensional one” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of oval is ovals.

How many letters and syllables are in oval?

Letters4: O-V-A-L
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is oval?

Oval appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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 oval?

  • UK /ˈəʊvəl/
  • US /ˈoʊvəl/

Oval 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-oval.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of oval

  • ovals plural
  • more oval comparative
  • most oval superlative

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

What does oval mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A two-dimensional one.

    Near-synonym: ellipse

  2. 2

    A three-dimensional one.

  3. 3

    A thing having such a shape, such as an arena.

  4. 4

    AustraliaA sports field, typically but not exclusively oval in shape.

  5. 5

    In a projective plane, a set of points such that no three are collinear and there is a unique tangent line at each point.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having the shape of an oval.

  2. 2

    Of or pertaining to an ovum.

    oval conceptions

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

Oval in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchovale (shape like an egg or ellipse), ovoïde (oval-shaped)
GermanOval (shape like an egg or ellipse), oval (oval-shaped)
Portugueseovoide (shape like an egg or ellipse), oval, ovalado (oval-shaped), ovular (of or pertaining to an ovum)
Spanishóvalo (shape like an egg or ellipse), oval, ovalado (oval-shaped)

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 oval come from?

From Late Latin ovalis, from ovum; cognate with French and Italian ovale, Dutch ovaal. From 1570.

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

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