pebble
peb·ble/ˈpɛbəl/noun, verb
pebble is spelled P-E-B-B-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (peb·ble). It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pebble means “A small stone, especially one rounded by the action of water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pebble is pebbles.
How many letters and syllables are in pebble?
| Letters | 6: P-E-B-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: peb·ble |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th 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 pebble?
Pebble appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 pebble?
- US /ˈpɛbəl/
- US [ˈpʰɛbəl] ~ [ˈpʰɛbl̩]
- Australia /ˈpebəl/
Pebble has 2 syllables, split peb·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pebble.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pebble
- pebbles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pebbling participle, present
- pebbled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pebble mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small stone, especially one rounded by the action of water.
- 2
A particle from 4 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
- 3
A small droplet of water intentionally sprayed on the ice that cause irregularities on the surface.
- 4
Transparent and colourless rock crystal.
Brazilian pebble
- 5
A form of slow-burning gunpowder in large cubical grains.
- 6
slangA small piece of crack cocaine.
verb
- 1
To pave with pebbles.
- 2
To deposit water droplets on the ice.
to pebble the ice between games
- 3
To give (leather) a rough appearance with small rounded prominences.
- 4
To place a pebble at (a vertex of a graph) according to certain rules, in a pebble game.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate pebble?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of pebble: peb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pebble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | galet, caillou , gravillon |
| German | Stein, Steinchen, Kiesel, Kieselstein |
| Portuguese | seixo, pedregulho, pedrinha |
| Spanish | canto, canto pelado, canto rodado, guijarro, peladilla, callao |
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 pebble come from?
From Middle English pibel (also in pibleston), from Old English papolstān (“pebble-stone”), from Old English *papol, *pyppel, *pæbbel of unknown origin + Old English stān. Compare Albanian popël.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).