priority
pri·or·i·ty/pɹaɪˈoɹəti/noun
priority is spelled P-R-I-O-R-I-T-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables (pri·or·i·ty). It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, priority means “An item's relative importance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of priority is priorities.
How many letters and syllables are in priority?
| Letters | 8: P-R-I-O-R-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: pri·or·i·ty |
| In writing | 26 times per million words; the 3,558th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is priority?
Priority appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th 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 priority?
- UK /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/
- British /pɹaɪˈɔɹɪtɪj/
- US /pɹaɪˈoɹəti/
Priority has 4 syllables, split pri·or·i·ty in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-priority.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of priority
- priorities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does priority mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An item's relative importance.
He set his e-mail message's priority to high.
- 2
A goal of a person or an organisation.
She needs to get her priorities straight and stop playing games.
- 3
The quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.
In bankruptcy law, a business' debt to its employees has priority over its debt to a landlord, so the employees must be paid first.
- 4
A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.
- 5
Precedence; superior rank.
- 6
Right of way; The right to pass (an intersection) before other road users.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate priority?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of priority: prio.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Priority in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense item's relative importance:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | priorité |
| German | Priorität, Vorrang, Vorrangigkeit, größere Wichtigkeit |
| Portuguese | prioridade, prioridades |
| Spanish | prioridad |
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 priority come from?
From Old French priorite, from Latin priōritās. Surface analysis: prior + -ity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).