periphery
pe·riph·ery/pəˈɹɪf.ə.ɹi/noun
periphery is spelled P-E-R-I-P-H-E-R-Y: 9 letters and 3 syllables (pe·riph·ery). It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, periphery means “The outside boundary, parts or surface of something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of periphery is peripheries.
How many letters and syllables are in periphery?
| Letters | 9: P-E-R-I-P-H-E-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pe·riph·ery |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th 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 periphery?
Periphery appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th 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 periphery?
- US /pəˈɹɪf.ə.ɹi/
- US [pəˈɹɪf.ɹi]
Periphery has 3 syllables, split pe·riph·ery in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-periphery.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of periphery
- peripheries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does periphery mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The outside boundary, parts or surface of something.
The suburbs are a city's periphery.
- 2
A first-rank administrative division of Greece, subdivided into provinces.
- 3
The more anomalous and infrequent aspects of a language, as opposed to the frequent and regular core aspects.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Periphery in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense outside boundary, parts or surface:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | périphérie |
| German | Peripherie |
| Portuguese | periferia |
| Spanish | periferia |
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.