possessive
pos·ses·sive/pəˈzɛs.ɪv/adjective, noun
possessive is spelled P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-V-E, 3 syllables: pos·ses·sive. The wrong spelling people search most is possesive: about 180 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Possessive is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to ownership or possession”.
How many letters and syllables are in possessive?
| Letters | 10: P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pos·ses·sive |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 23,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, possesive, about 180 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell possessive?
Possessive is spelled P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for possessive 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 possessive?
Possessive appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd 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 possessive?
- US /pəˈzɛs.ɪv/
- Australia /pəˈzes.ɪv/
- /pəˈzes.əv/
Possessive has 3 syllables, split pos·ses·sive in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-possessive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with possessive?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as possessive from its last stressed vowel (/ɛsɪv/):
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 possessive
- more possessive comparative
- most possessive superlative
- possessives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does possessive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or pertaining to ownership or possession.
- 2
Indicating ownership, possession, origin, etc.
- 3
Unwilling to yield possession of.
He is very possessive of his car.
noun
- 1
The possessive case.
- 2
A word used to indicate the possessive case.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate possessive?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of possessive: pos, poss..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Possessive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | possessif |
| Spanish | posesivo , celoso |
| German | besitzanzeigend, possessiv |
| Portuguese | possessivo |
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 possessive come from?
From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). By surface analysis, possess + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).