prosper
/ˈpɹɑspɚ/verb
prosper is spelled P-R-O-S-P-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Prosper, the name). As a verb, prosper means “To be successful; to succeed; to be fortunate or prosperous; to thrive; to make gain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in prosper?
| Letters | 7: P-R-O-S-P-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,005th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 prosper?
Prosper appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Prosper, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce prosper?
- UK /ˈpɹɒspə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈpɹɑspɚ/
- Canada /ˈpɹɒspɚ/
Prosper 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)-Mélange_a_trois-prosper.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of prosper
- prospers present, singular, he/she/it
- prospering participle, present
- prospered participle, past
- prospre
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does prosper mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be successful; to succeed; to be fortunate or prosperous; to thrive; to make gain.
- 2
To grow; to increase.
- 3
obsoleteTo favor; to render successful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Prosper in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to be successful:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prospérer |
| German | gedeihen, prosperieren, florieren |
| Portuguese | prosperar |
| Spanish | prosperar |
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 prosper come from?
From Old French prosperer, from Latin prosperō (“to render happy”), from prosperus (“prosperous”), from Proto-Italic *prosparos, from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to succeed”), whence also Latin spēs (“hope, expectation”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).