pup
/pʌp/noun, verb
pup is spelled P-U-P: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pup means “A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, bat or shark, or the young of certain other animals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pup is pups.
How many letters and syllables are in pup?
| Letters | 3: P-U-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th 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 pup?
Pup appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 pup?
- /pʌp/
Pup has one syllable (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-pup.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pup
- pups plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pupping participle, present
- pupped participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pup mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, bat or shark, or the young of certain other animals.
The dog has had that bed since he was just a pup.
- 2
A young, inexperienced person.
The new teacher is a mere pup.
- 3
Any cute dog, regardless of age.
My pup likes to run as fast as he can, yet cannot always stop in time!
- 4
A short semi-trailer used jointly with a dolly and another semi-trailer to create a twin trailer.
- 5
A new plant growing from a shoot that can be used for propagation.
- 6
A kind of small spotlight.
- 7
USAn early edition of a periodical publication, intended for distribution to distant locations.
- 8
slangSomeone who participates in pup play (the sexual practice of role-playing as a young dog).
verb
- 1
To give birth to pups.
noun
- 1
Acronym of potentially unwanted program, software that most computer users do not want on their computers, such as adware.
- 2
Paid up
- 3
Prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pup in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 pup come from?
Clipping of puppy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).