protect
/pɹəˈtɛkt/verb
protect is spelled P-R-O-T-E-C-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, protect means “To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in protect?
| Letters | 7: P-R-O-T-E-C-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 83 times per million words; the 1,272nd 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 protect?
Protect appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd 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 protect?
- /pɹəˈtɛkt/
Protect 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-protect.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of protect
- protects present, singular, he/she/it
- protecting participle, present
- protected participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does protect mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to.
to protect a child from danger
- 2
To book a passenger on a later flight if there is a chance they will not be able to board their earlier reserved flight.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Protect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to keep safe:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | protéger |
| German | schützen, beschützen |
| Portuguese | proteger |
| Spanish | proteger, defensar, captener |
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 protect come from?
Attested in English since 1530, from Latin prōtēctus (“covered, protected”), past participle of prōtegō, prōtegere (“to cover the front, protect”) from prō, prō- (“before, in front of”) + tegō, tegere (“to cover”), see tegument. Largely displaced native Middle English shelden, from Old English sċildan (“to protect,” literally “to shield”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).