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PlainSpell

oyster

oy·ster/ˈɔɪ.stɚ/noun, adjective, verb

oyster is spelled O-Y-S-T-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (oy·ster). It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, oyster means “Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of oyster is oysters.

How many letters and syllables are in oyster?

Letters6: O-Y-S-T-E-R
Syllables2: oy·ster
In writing3.5 times per million words; the 14,106th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is oyster?

Oyster appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th 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 oyster?

  • UK /ˈɔɪ.stə/
  • US /ˈɔɪ.stɚ/
  • /ˈɔɪ.st͡ʃɚ/

Oyster has 2 syllables, split oy·ster in writing.

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

What rhymes with oyster?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as oyster from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɪstəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: storey.

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 oyster

  • oysters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • erster
  • more oyster comparative
  • most oyster superlative
  • oystering participle, present
  • oystered participle, past

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

What does oyster mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.

  2. 2

    The delicate oyster-shaped morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.

  3. 3

    Any of the fungi in the genera Pleurotus, Hohenbuehelia, or other related genera.

  4. 4

    A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

  5. 5

    colloquialA person who keeps secrets.

  6. 6

    Something at one's disposal.

  7. 7

    UKslangA shoplifter.

  8. 8

    UKslangEllipsis of Oyster card.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

verb

  1. 1

    To fish for oysters.

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

Oyster in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhuître, huitre (mollusk – see also clam, mollusc, mussel), sot-l’y-laisse (meat from poultry)
GermanAuster (mollusk – see also clam, mollusc, mussel), Pfaffenschnittchen, Pfaffenstückchen (meat from poultry)
Portugueseostra (mollusk – see also clam, mollusc, mussel), marisco (food from mollusc)
Spanishostra, ostrón, ostión, ostia (disused) (mollusk – see also clam, mollusc, mussel)

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 oyster come from?

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon). Doublet of ostro (“a purple dye”).

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

What to look up after oyster