parent
/ˈpɛəɹənt/noun, verb
parent is spelled P-A-R-E-N-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, parent means “A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of parent is parents.
How many letters and syllables are in parent?
| Letters | 6: P-A-R-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is parent?
Parent appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 parent?
- UK /ˈpɛəɹənt/
- British /ˈpɛːɹənt/
- US /ˈpɛəɹənt/
Parent 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)-Nattes_à_chat-parent.wav, En-us-parent.ogg, En-au-pair.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with parent?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as parent (/ɛəɹənt/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: entrap, panter, trepan, parten.
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 parent
- parents plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- parenting participle, present
- parented participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does parent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.).
After both her parents were killed in a forest fire, Sonia was adopted by her aunt and uncle.
- 2
A person who has had a baby; this person in relation to their child or children.
- 3
A surrogate parent.
- 4
A third person who has provided DNA samples in an IVF procedure in order to alter faulty genetic material.
- 5
obsoleteA relative.
- 6
The source or origin of something.
- 7
An organism from which a plant or animal is immediately biologically descended.
- 8
Sponsor, supporter, owner, protector.
verb
- 1
To act as parent, to raise or rear.
- 2
To provide a parent object for one or more other objects, which become the children.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Parent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | parent, géniteur, génitrice |
| German | Elternteil, Elter , Eltern , Elternpflanze, männliche Elternpflanze |
| Portuguese | pai, genitor, progenitor , mãe |
| Spanish | padre, madre, progenitor, xadre |
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 parent come from?
From Middle English parent, borrowed from Anglo-Norman parent, Middle French parent, from Latin parentem, accusative of parēns (“parent”), present participle of pariō (“to breed, bring forth”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).