polyethylene
noun
polyethylene is spelled P-O-L-Y-E-T-H-Y-L-E-N-E: 12 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, polyethylene means “A polymer consisting of many ethylene monomers bonded together; used for kitchenware, containers etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of polyethylene is polyethylenes.
How many letters and syllables are in polyethylene?
| Letters | 12: P-O-L-Y-E-T-H-Y-L-E-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,017th 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 polyethylene?
Polyethylene appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th 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 polyethylene?
- US
Polyethylene has 5 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: En-us-ncalif-polyethylene.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst-polyethylene.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of polyethylene
- polyethylenes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does polyethylene mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A polymer consisting of many ethylene monomers bonded together; used for kitchenware, containers etc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate polyethylene?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of polyethylene: PE.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Polyethylene in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense polyethylene:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | polyéthylène, polyéthène, polyméthylène |
| German | Polyäthylen, Polyethylen, Plastik |
| Portuguese | polietileno |
| Spanish | polietileno |
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 polyethylene come from?
From poly- + ethylene.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).