popular
/ˈpɑ.pjə.lɚ/adjective, noun
popular is spelled P-O-P-U-L-A-R. The wrong spelling people search most is populer: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 115 of all searches for the word. Popular is an adjective meaning “Common among the general public; generally accepted”.
How many letters and syllables are in popular?
| Letters | 7: P-O-P-U-L-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 117 times per million words; the 904th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, populer, about 50 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 popular?
Popular is spelled P-O-P-U-L-A-R. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 83 of the searches for popular 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 popular?
Popular appears 117 times per million words in written English, the 904th 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 popular?
- UK /ˈpɒp.jʊ.lə/
- US /ˈpɑ.pjə.lɚ/
Popular has 3 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-popular.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of popular
- more popular comparative
- most popular superlative
- populars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does popular mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Common among the general public; generally accepted.
- 2
Concerning the people; public.
- 3
Pertaining to or deriving from the people or general public.
- 4
obsoleteOf low birth, not noble; vulgar, plebian.
- 5
Aimed at ordinary people, as opposed to specialists etc.; intended for general consumption.
- 6
obsoleteCultivating the favour of the common people.
- 7
Liked by many people; generally pleasing, widely admired.
- 8
Adapted to the means of the common people; cheap.
noun
- 1
A person who is popular, especially at a school.
- 2
An inexpensive newspaper with wide circulation.
- 3
A member of the Populares
noun
- 1
A member of any political party with "Popular" in the title, such as the Partido Popular in Spain or Popolari di Italia Domani in Italy
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Popular in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | populaire |
| German | Volks- , populär- , beliebt, populär |
| Portuguese | popular |
| Spanish | popular , célebre, insigne |
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 popular come from?
Inherited from Middle English populer, borrowed from Old French populaire, or borrowed from Latin populāris.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).