password
pass·word/ˈpæs.wɜɹd/noun, verb
password is spelled P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D: 8 letters and 2 syllables (pass·word). It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, password means “A word relayed to a person to gain admittance to a place or to gain access to information” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of password is passwords.
How many letters and syllables are in password?
| Letters | 8: P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pass·word |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,456th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is password?
Password appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,456th 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 password?
- US /ˈpæs.wɜɹd/
- /ˈpɑːs.wɜːd/
- /ˈpæs.wɜːd/
Password has 2 syllables, split pass·word in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-password.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of password
- passwords plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- passwording participle, present
- passworded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does password mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A word relayed to a person to gain admittance to a place or to gain access to information.
Only if a would-be visitor knew the password du jour could he pass; the guards allowed no exceptions.
- 2
A string of characters used to log in to a computer or network, to access a level in a video game, and so on; archetypally a word but nowadays often an alphanumeric string or a phrase.
A strong password has a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.
verb
- 1
To protect with a password.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate password?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of password: PW, pw, pwd, pword.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Password in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mot de passe, mot d'ordre |
| German | Codewort, Passwort, Parole, Kennwort |
| Portuguese | senha, palavra-passe , password, palavra-chave |
| Spanish | contraseña, santo y seña , palabra clave |
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 password come from?
From pass + word. The sentry-passing sense predates the cryptographic sense and was its inspiration.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).