particle
part·i·cle/ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/noun
particle is spelled P-A-R-T-I-C-L-E, 3 syllables: part·i·cle. The wrong spelling people search most is particel: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 333 of all searches for the word. Particle is a noun meaning “A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something”. The plural of particle is particles or β-particles.
How many letters and syllables are in particle?
| Letters | 8: P-A-R-T-I-C-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: part·i·cle |
| In writing | 7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, particel, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell particle?
Particle is spelled P-A-R-T-I-C-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 331 of the searches for particle in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is particle?
Particle appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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 particle?
- UK /ˈpɑːtɪkl̩/
- US /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/
- US [-ɾə-]
Particle has 3 syllables, split part·i·cle in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-particle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of particle
- particles plural
- β-particles plural
- α-particles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does particle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.
- 2
Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle.
- 3
A part of speech that has no inherent lexical definition but must be associated with another word to impart meaning, often a grammatical category: for example, the English word to in a full infinitive phrase (to eat) or O in a vocative phrase (O Canada), or as a discourse marker (mmm).
- 4
A part of speech which cannot be inflected.
- 5
In the Roman Catholic church, a crumb of consecrated bread; also the smaller breads used in the communion of the laity.
the Sacred Particle
- 6
A little bit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Particle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | particule |
| German | Teilchen, Partikel , Redeteilchen |
| Portuguese | partícula |
| Spanish | partícula |
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 particle come from?
From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”). Semantically displaced native Old English grot whence modern English groat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).