pastrami
/pəˈstɹɑːmi/noun
pastrami is spelled P-A-S-T-R-A-M-I: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,063rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pastrami means “A seasoned smoked cut of beef, traditionally made from a navel cut” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pastrami is pastramis.
How many letters and syllables are in pastrami?
| Letters | 8: P-A-S-T-R-A-M-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 58,063rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 pastrami?
Pastrami appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,063rd 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 pastrami?
- UK /pæˈstɹɑːmi/
- UK /pəˈstɹɑːmi/
- US /pəˈstɹɑːmi/
Pastrami has 3 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)-Flame,_not_lame-pastrami.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pastrami?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pastrami from its last stressed vowel (/ɑmi/):
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 pastrami
- pastramis plural
- pastrame rare
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pastrami mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A seasoned smoked cut of beef, traditionally made from a navel cut.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pastrami in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense seasoned smoked cut of beef:
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 pastrami come from?
Borrowed from Yiddish פּאַסטראַמע (pastrame), from Romanian pastramă, from Ottoman Turkish باصدرمه (modern Turkish pastırma), a variation of bastırma (“dried meat”), from root bas- (“to press”). It is sometimes claimed that the origin of the Turkish word is Greek παστώνω (pastóno, “I salt”), from Ancient Greek παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt, salted”). The English spelling ending in -mi is probably from the influence of salami.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).