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posit

/ˈpɑzɪt/noun, verb

posit is spelled P-O-S-I-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, posit means “Something that is posited; a postulate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of posit is posits.

How many letters and syllables are in posit?

Letters5: P-O-S-I-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is posit?

Posit appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 posit?

  • UK /ˈpɒzɪt/
  • US /ˈpɑzɪt/
  • Australia /ˈpɔzɪt/

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

What rhymes with posit?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as posit from its last stressed vowel (/ɑzɪt/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of posit

  • posits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • positing participle, present
  • posited participle, past

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

What does posit mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Something that is posited; a postulate.

  2. 2

    Abbreviation of position.

  3. 3

    A number format representing a real number consisting of a sign bit, a variable-size "regime" part (which modifies the exponent), up to two exponent bits, and a fraction part, proposed as a more efficient alternative to IEEE 754 floats in AI applications.

verb

  1. 1

    To assume the existence of; to postulate.

  2. 2

    To propose for consideration or study; to suggest.

  3. 3

    To put (something somewhere) firmly; to place or position.

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

Posit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpostulat (postulate), postuler (to postulate), avancer, énoncer (to suggest)
GermanPostulat (postulate), postulieren (to postulate), aufstellen (to suggest)
Portuguesepostulado (postulate), postular (to postulate), propor (to suggest)
Spanishdeparar (to postulate), plantear (to suggest)

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 posit come from?

Borrowed from Latin positus, perfect participle of pōnō (“put, place”). Noun sense 3 (type of number format) was coined by American computer scientist and businessman John Gustafson in 2017.

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

What to look up after posit