performance
per·for·mance/pɚˈfɔɹ.mən(t)s/noun
performance is spelled P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-N-C-E, 3 syllables: per·for·mance. The wrong spelling people search most is preformance: about 470 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 36 of all searches for the word. Performance is a noun meaning “The act of performing; carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment…”. The plural of performance is performances.
How many letters and syllables are in performance?
| Letters | 11: P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: per·for·mance |
| In writing | 145 times per million words; the 711th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 5; the most searched, preformance, about 470 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 performance?
Performance is spelled P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-N-C-E. 5 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 17 of the searches for performance 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 performance?
Performance appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th 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 performance?
- UK /pəˈfɔː.mən(t)s/
- US /pɚˈfɔɹ.mən(t)s/
- Australia /pəˈfoː.mən(t)s/
Performance has 3 syllables, split per·for·mance in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-performance.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of performance
- performances plural
- performaunce
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does performance mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of performing; carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action.
the performance of an undertaking or a duty
- 2
That which is performed or accomplished; a thing done or carried through; an achievement; a deed; an act; a feat; especially, an action of an elaborate or public character.
- 3
A live show or concert.
The band played a mix of old and new songs during their 90-minute performance.
- 4
The amount of useful work accomplished estimated in terms of time needed, resources used, etc.
Better performance means more work accomplished in shorter time and/or using fewer resources.
- 5
The actual use of language in concrete situations by native speakers of a language, as opposed to the system of linguistic knowledge they possess (competence), cf. linguistic performance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate performance?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of performance: perf.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Performance in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | exécution, performance , représentation, prestation |
| German | Durchführung, Leistung , Aufführung, Auftritt, Performance |
| Portuguese | desempenho , apresentação , performance |
| Spanish | actuación, cumplimiento, ejecución, desempeño, efectuación, realización |
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 performance come from?
From Middle English parfourmaunce; equivalent to perform + -ance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).