participate
/pɑɹˈtɪs.əˌpeɪt/verb
participate is spelled P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-E: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, participate means “To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in participate?
| Letters | 11: P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,479th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 participate?
Participate appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th 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 participate?
- UK /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
- US /pɑɹˈtɪs.əˌpeɪt/
- Australia /pɐːˈtɪs.ə.pæɪt/
Participate has 4 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: En-us-participate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of participate
- participates present, singular, he/she/it
- participating participle, present
- participated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does participate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
- 2
obsoleteTo share, to take part in (something).
- 3
obsoleteTo share (something) with others; to transfer (something) to or unto others.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteActing in common; participating.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Participate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to join in, to take part, to involve oneself:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | participer (à), prendre part |
| German | teilnehmen, sich beteiligen |
| Portuguese | participar |
| Spanish | participar |
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 participate come from?
Borrowed from Latin participātus, the perfect passive participle of participō (“to take part in, share in, give part in, impart”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from particeps (“taking part (in), sharing (in); someone who takes part (in)”, particip- in compounds), from pars (“part”, part- in compounds) + -ceps (“which takes, taker”), literally “(someone) who takes part”; see part and capable. Compare Old English dǣlniman (“to participate”), an earlier calque of the same Latin verb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).