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plumbing

UK /ˈplʌmɪŋ/noun

plumbing is spelled P-L-U-M-B-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, plumbing means “The pipes, together with the joints, tanks, stopcocks, taps, and other fixtures of a water, gas, or sewage system in a house or other building” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of plumbing is plumbings.

How many letters and syllables are in plumbing?

Letters8: P-L-U-M-B-I-N-G
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 plumbing?

Plumbing appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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 plumbing?

  • UK /ˈplʌmɪŋ/

Plumbing 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-plumbing.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of plumbing

  • plumbings plural

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

What does plumbing mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The pipes, together with the joints, tanks, stopcocks, taps, and other fixtures of a water, gas, or sewage system in a house or other building.

    Water was dripping from the ceiling, so we figured there was a problem with the plumbing.

  2. 2

    The trade or occupation of a plumber.

  3. 3

    informalA system of vessels or ducts in the human body, especially the genitourinary system.

    My plumbing was playing up, so I had to see the doctor.

  4. 4

    informalPractical, concrete work serving to support other work.

    This is not scientific research as such: it's just plumbing.

  5. 5

    A Murasugi sum where each disk summed along has its boundary subdivided into four segments.

  6. 6

    slangThe genitourinary system.

  7. 7

    The set of Git commands, such as `git hash-object` and `git write-tree`, which control the low-level state of the repository, typically not intended to be used in ordinary situations.

    Coordinate term: porcelain

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

How do you abbreviate plumbing?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of plumbing: plbg., plmb., plmbg..

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

Plumbing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtuyauterie, plomberie (pipes, etc, of a water/gas/sewage system in a…), plombage (a Murasugi sum)
GermanVerrohrung, Rohrleitung, Installation (pipes, etc, of a water/gas/sewage system in a…), Klempnerei, Klempnerarbeit (trade or occupation of a plumber), Gedärm (informal: system of vessels or ducts in the…)
Portugueseencanamento (pipes, etc, of a water/gas/sewage system in a…)
Spanishcañería (pipes, etc, of a water/gas/sewage system in a…), fontanería, plomería (trade or occupation of a plumber)

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.

What to look up after plumbing