playback
/ˈpleɪˌbæk/noun
playback is spelled P-L-A-Y-B-A-C-K: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, playback means “The replaying of something previously recorded, especially sound or moving images” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of playback is playbacks.
How many letters and syllables are in playback?
| Letters | 8: P-L-A-Y-B-A-C-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th 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 playback?
Playback appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th 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 playback?
- /ˈpleɪˌbæk/
Playback 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)-Qwertygiy-playback.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with playback
Also written: play back (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of playback
- playbacks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does playback mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The replaying of something previously recorded, especially sound or moving images.
- 2
nonstandardLip-syncing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Playback in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense replaying of recorded sound or moving images:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | lecture |
| German | Wiedergabe |
| Portuguese | reprodução |
| Spanish | reproducción |
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 playback come from?
From play + back. Sense 2 is from French playback, a pseudo-anglicism of this term.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).