peripheral

/pəˈɹɪf(ə)ɹ(ə)l/adjective, noun

peripheral is spelled P-E-R-I-P-H-E-R-A-L: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, peripheral means “On the periphery or boundary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in peripheral?

Letters	10: P-E-R-I-P-H-E-R-A-L
Syllables	4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search

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).

How common is peripheral?

Peripheral appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form in the list.

peripheral0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce peripheral?

/pəˈɹɪf(ə)ɹ(ə)l/
/pəˈɹɪfi.əl/

Peripheral has 4 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: En-us-peripheral.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of peripheral

more peripheral comparative
most peripheral superlative
peripherals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does peripheral mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
On the periphery or boundary.
2
Beside the point.
3
Unimportant.
4
Auxiliary.
5
Related to or located in the peripheral nervous system.

noun

1
A peripheral device.
2
Peripheral vision.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Peripheral in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	périphérique (on the periphery or boundary)
German	umliegend, peripher (on the periphery or boundary)
Portuguese	periférico (on the periphery or boundary), secundário (unimportant)
Spanish	periférico (on the periphery or boundary)

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.