prate
/pɹeɪt/noun, verb
prate is spelled P-R-A-T-E: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 167,786th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, prate means “Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of prate is prates.
How many letters and syllables are in prate?
| Letters | 5: P-R-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 30 million words; the 167,786th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is prate?
Prate appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 167,786th 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 prate?
- /pɹeɪt/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-prate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with prate?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as prate.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: taper, pater, peart, preta, apert.
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 prate
- prates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- prating participle, present
- prated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity.
verb
- 1
To talk much and to little purpose; to be loquacious; to speak foolishly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 prate come from?
From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon *pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic *prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, deceit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bred- (“to wander, rove”). Related to Dutch praten (“to talk, chat”), Low German praten, dated German pfrassen, Danish prate, Swedish prata (“to talk, prate”), Faroese práta (“to talk, gossip”), Icelandic prata;; also cognate with Polish bredzić (“to rave, jabber”), Latvian bradāt (“to talk nonsense”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).