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panic

pan·ic/ˈpeə̯nɪk/adjective, noun, verb

panic is spelled P-A-N-I-C: 5 letters and 2 syllables (pan·ic). It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, panic means “Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in panic?

Letters5: P-A-N-I-C
Syllables2: pan·ic
In writing18 times per million words; the 4,589th 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 panic?

Panic appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th 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 panic?

  • /ˈpænɪk/
  • [ˈpʰænɪk]
  • US /ˈpeə̯nɪk/

Panic has 2 syllables, split pan·ic in writing.

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

What rhymes with panic?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as panic from its last stressed vowel (/eənɪk/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: incap.

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 panic

  • more panic comparative
  • most panic superlative
  • panics plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • panicking participle, present
  • panicked participle, past
  • panick

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

What does panic mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicAlternative letter-case form of Panic (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”).

  2. 2

    Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden.

  3. 3

    Pertaining to or resulting from overwhelming fear or fright.

noun

  1. 1

    Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.

  2. 2

    Ellipsis of kernel panic (“on Unix-derived operating systems: an action taken by the operating system when it cannot recover from a fatal error”); (by extension) any computer system crash.

  3. 3

    A rapid reduction in asset prices due to broad efforts to raise cash in anticipation of such prices continuing to decline.

  4. 4

    UScolloquialA highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show; a riot, a scream.

  5. 5

    Foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica), the second-most widely grown species of millet.

  6. 6

    A plant of the genus Panicum, or of similar plants of other genera (especially Echinochloa and Setaria) formerly included within Panicum; panicgrass or panic grass.

  7. 7

    The edible grain obtained from one of the above plants.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause (someone) to feel panic (“overwhelming fear or fright”); also, to frighten (someone) into acting hastily.

  2. 2

    To cause (a computer system) to crash.

  3. 3

    UScolloquialTo highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show).

  4. 4

    To feel panic, or overwhelming fear or fright; to freak out, to lose one's head.

  5. 5

    Of a computer system: to crash.

adjective

as Panic
  1. 1

    archaicSynonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”).

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

Panic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesepânico (of fear, fright, etc.: overwhelming or sudden), apavorar (to cause (someone) to feel panic; to frighten…), deixar em pânico (to feel panic)
Frenchfaire paniquer (to cause (someone) to feel panic; to frighten…), paniquer, s'affoler (to feel panic), panique (overwhelming fear or fright; an instance of this)
Germanin Panik geraten (to cause (someone) to feel panic; to frighten…), in Panik verfallen (to feel panic), Panik (overwhelming fear or fright; an instance of this)
Spanishaterrar, espantar (to cause (someone) to feel panic; to frighten…), aterrarse, espantarse, entrar en pánico (to feel panic), pánico (overwhelming fear or fright; an instance of this)

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 panic come from?

The adjective is borrowed from Middle French panique, a word itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πανικός (panikós, “pertaining to Pan”); Pan, the Greek god of fields and woods, was believed to be the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Adjective sense 3 (“pertaining to or resulting from overpowering fear or fright”) is partly an attributive use of the noun. The noun is derived from the adjective, while the verb is derived from the noun.

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

What to look up after panic