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priesthood

/ˈpɹiːstˌhʊd/noun

priesthood is spelled P-R-I-E-S-T-H-O-O-D: 10 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, priesthood means “The role or office of a priest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of priesthood is priesthoods.

How many letters and syllables are in priesthood?

Letters10: P-R-I-E-S-T-H-O-O-D
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is priesthood?

Priesthood appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th 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 priesthood?

  • /ˈpɹiːstˌhʊd/

Priesthood 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: En-us-priesthood.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of priesthood

  • priesthoods plural

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

What does priesthood mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The role or office of a priest.

    Meronym: priestcraft

  2. 2

    Priests as a group.

    Holonym: clergy

  3. 3

    Authority to act in the name of God or the divine in general.

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

Priesthood in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsacerdoce, prêtrise (role or office), clergé (clergy)
GermanPriesteramt (role or office), Priestertum, Priesterschaft (clergy), Priesterwürde (authority)
Portuguesesacerdócio (role or office)
Spanishsacerdocio (role or office)

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 priesthood come from?

From Middle English presthed, presthede, presthod, presthode, from Old English prēosthād (“priesthood”), equivalent to priest + -hood. Compare Dutch priesterheid (“priesthood”).

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

What to look up after priesthood