prism
/ˈpɹɪzəm/noun
prism is spelled P-R-I-S-M: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, prism means “An object having the shape of a geometrical prism (sense 1)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of prism is prisms.
How many letters and syllables are in prism?
| Letters | 5: P-R-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is prism?
Prism appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th 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 prism?
- UK /ˈpɹɪz(ə)m/
- UK [ˈpʰɹ̠̊ɪzm̩]
- US /ˈpɹɪzəm/
Prism 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-prism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with prism?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as prism from its last stressed vowel (/ɪzəm/):
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 prism
- prisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An object having the shape of a geometrical prism (sense 1).
- 2
A cutting (“open passage at a level lower than the surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through”) or an embankment shaped like a prism (sense 1) or a number of prisms, such that its volume can be easily calculated.
- 3
A crystal in which the faces are parallel to the vertical axis.
- 4
A transparent block in the shape of a prism (sense 1), typically with triangular ends, used to reflect or refract light.
- 5
archaicA spectrum produced by light being refracted through a prism.
- 6
A retroreflector (“device which reflects light back to its source with minimal scattering”) which is usually attached to a surveying pole as a target for a total station which emits a light beam at the device and calculates how long it takes to be reflected back in order to measure distance.
- 7
A perspective that colours one's perception.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense type of polyhedron:
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 prism come from?
Learned borrowing from Late Latin prisma (“(geometry) prism”), from Ancient Greek πρίσμᾰ (prísmă, “anything sawn; sawdust; (Koine, geometry) prism”), from πρῐ́ζω (prĭ́zō) (a variant of πρῑ́ω (prī́ō, “to saw”), further etymology unknown) + -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, etc.).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).