pilus
pi·lus/ˈpaɪ̯.ləs/noun
pilus is spelled P-I-L-U-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables (pi·lus). It appears about once in every 33 million words in written English, the 176,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pilus means “A hair” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pilus is pili.
How many letters and syllables are in pilus?
| Letters | 5: P-I-L-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pi·lus |
| In writing | about once in every 33 million words; the 176,009th 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 pilus?
Pilus appears about once in every 33 million words in written English, the 176,009th 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 pilus?
- US /ˈpaɪ̯.ləs/
- US /ˈpʌɪ̯.ləs/
- Australia /ˈpɑe̯.ləs/
Pilus has 2 syllables, split pi·lus in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pilus.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pilus
- pili plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pilus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A hair.
- 2
A hairlike appendage found on the cell surface of many bacteria.
- 3
A bacterial protein that has several biochemical functions.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does pilus come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).