precede
/pɹɪˈsiːd/verb, noun
precede is spelled P-R-E-C-E-D-E. The wrong spelling people search most is preceed: about 390 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Precede is a verb meaning “To go before, go in front of”.
How many letters and syllables are in precede?
| Letters | 7: P-R-E-C-E-D-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,504th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, preceed, about 390 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people 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); 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 precede?
Precede is spelled P-R-E-C-E-D-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for precede 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 precede?
Precede appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th 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 precede?
- UK /pɹɪˈsiːd/
- UK /pɹiːˈsiːd/
- UK /pɹəˈsiːd/
Precede 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-precede.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with precede
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with precede?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as precede from its last stressed vowel (/id/, British pronunciation):
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 precede
- precedes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- preceding participle, present
- preceded participle, past
- præcede
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does precede mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To go before, go in front of.
Cultural genocide precedes physical genocide.
- 2
To cause to be preceded; to preface; to introduce.
It has been usual to precede hostilities by a public declaration communicated to the enemy.
- 3
To have higher rank than (someone or something else).
noun
- 1
Brief editorial preface (usually to an article or essay).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Precede in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | précéder |
| German | vorangehen, vorausgehen, kommen vor , rangieren vor |
| Portuguese | preceder, anteceder |
| Spanish | preceder, antepasar (desus.) |
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 precede come from?
From Middle French précéder, from Latin praecēdō, from prae- + cēdō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).