premise
/ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/noun, verb
premise is spelled P-R-E-M-I-S-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, premise means “A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of premise is premises.
How many letters and syllables are in premise?
| Letters | 7: P-R-E-M-I-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th 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 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 premise?
Premise appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th 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 premise?
- US /ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/
- Australia /ˈpɹem.ɪs/
- /ˈpɹem.əs/
Premise 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-premise.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with premise?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as premise (/ɛmɪs/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: emprise.
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 premise
- premises plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- premiss
- premising participle, present
- premised participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does premise mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition.
- 2
Any of the first propositions of a syllogism, from which the conclusion is deduced.
- 3
Matters previously stated or set forth; especially, that part in the beginning of a deed, the office of which is to express the grantor and grantee, and the land or thing granted or conveyed, and all that precedes the habendum; the thing demised or granted.
- 4
A piece of real estate; a building and its adjuncts.
trespass on another’s premises
- 5
The fundamental concept that drives the plot of a film or other story.
verb
- 1
To state or assume something as a proposition to an argument.
- 2
To make a premise.
- 3
To set forth beforehand, or as introductory to the main subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in understanding what follows.
- 4
To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Premise in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prémisse , local |
| German | Prämisse, Voraussetzung , Lokal, Räumlichkeiten |
| Portuguese | premissa |
| Spanish | premisa |
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 premise come from?
From Middle English premise, premisse, from Old French premisse, from Medieval Latin premissa (“set before”) (premissa propositio (“the proposition set before”)), feminine past participle of Latin praemittere (“to send or put before”), from prae- (“before”) + mittere (“to send”). Sense 4, a piece of real estate arose from the misinterpretation of the word by property owners while reading title deeds where the word was used with the legal sense.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).