placard
/ˈplæk.ɑɹd/noun, verb
placard is spelled P-L-A-C-A-R-D. The wrong spelling people search most is plackard: about 180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 20 of all searches for the word. Placard is a noun meaning “A sheet of paper or cardboard with a written or printed announcement on one side for display in a public place”. The plural of placard is placards.
How many letters and syllables are in placard?
| Letters | 7: P-L-A-C-A-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, plackard, about 180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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 placard?
Placard is spelled P-L-A-C-A-R-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 20 of the searches for placard 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 placard?
Placard appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th 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 placard?
- UK /ˈplæk.ɑːd/
- US /ˈplæk.ɑɹd/
Placard has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-placard.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of placard
- placards plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- plackart
- plaquet
- placarding participle, present
- placarded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does placard mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sheet of paper or cardboard with a written or printed announcement on one side for display in a public place.
- 2
obsoleteA public proclamation; a manifesto or edict issued by authority.
- 3
obsoletePermission given by authority; a license.
to give a placard to do something
- 4
An extra plate on the lower part of the breastplate or backplate of armour.
- 5
A kind of stomacher, often adorned with jewels, worn in the fifteenth century and later.
- 6
The woodwork and frame of the door of a closet etc.
verb
- 1
To affix a placard to, or mark with a placard nearby.
- 2
To announce with placards.
to placard a sale
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Placard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a sheet of paper or cardboard:
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 placard come from?
From Middle English placard (“official document”), from Middle French placard, placart, plaquart (“a placard, a writing pasted on a wall”), from the Old French verb plaquer, plaquier (“to stick or paste, roughcast”), from Middle Dutch placken, plecken (“to glue or fasten, plaster, patch”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *plaggą (“a piece of cloth, patch”), equivalent to plaque + -ard.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).