rainforest
/ˈɹeɪn.fɔɹ.ɪst/noun
rainforest is a noun meaning “A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-A-I-N-F-O-R-E-S-T and has 3 syllables, and it appears 2.5 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of rainforest is rainforests.
What does rainforest mean?
noun
- 1
A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce rainforest?
- UK /ˈɹeɪn.fɒɹ.ɪst/
- US /ˈɹeɪn.fɔɹ.ɪst/
Rainforest has 3 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)-Vealhurl-rainforest.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-rainforest.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of rainforest
- rainforests plural
- rain forest
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is rainforest?
Rainforest appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd 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).
Words people confuse with rainforest
Also written: rain forest (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Rainforest in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense type of forest:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pluvisylve, pluvisilve, forêt pluviale, forêt pluvieuse, forêt tropicale |
| German | Regenwald |
| Portuguese | floresta tropical, floresta húmida, floresta ombrófila, floresta pluvial |
| Spanish | bosque tropical, bosque hidrofítico, pluviselva, foresta pluvial, foresta pluviosa |
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 rainforest come from?
From rain + forest, a calque of German Regenwald.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).