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ramp

/ɹæmp/noun, verb

ramp is spelled R-A-M-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ramp means “An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ramp is ramps.

How many letters and syllables are in ramp?

Letters4: R-A-M-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.8 times per million words; the 9,165th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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 ramp?

Ramp appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th 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 ramp?

  • /ɹæmp/

Ramp 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-ramp.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with ramp?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ramp.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: pram, parm.

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 ramp

  • ramps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ramping participle, present
  • ramped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ramp mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.

  2. 2

    CanadaUSAn interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.

  3. 3

    A structure with an inclined surface made for stunts, as for jumping motorcycles or other vehicles.

  4. 4

    A mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.

  5. 5

    A way of hitting a boundary by facing the bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball. 100% of it done against pace.

    He hit three ramps in a row to push his team near the opponents total.

  6. 6

    A large parking area in an airport for aircraft, for loading and unloading or for storage (see also apron and tarmac).

  7. 7

    A surface inside the air intake of a supersonic aircraft which adjusts in position to allow for efficient shock wave compression of incoming air at a wide range of different Mach numbers.

  8. 8

    A construction used to do skating tricks, usually in the form of part of a pipe.

  9. 9

    Any of species Allium tricoccum of plants related to the onion; a wild leek.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA promiscuous man or woman.

  11. 11

    derogatoryA worthless person.

verb

  1. 1

    To behave violently; to rage.

  2. 2

    slangTo swindle or rob violently.

  3. 3

    AustraliaslangTo search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo spring; to leap; to bound, rear, or prance; to move swiftly or violently.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo climb, like a plant; to creep up.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo stand in a rampant position.

  7. 7

    To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.

  8. 8

    To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ramp in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrampe (inclined surface), passerelle (aviation: mobile staircase), ramper (stand in a rampant position), oignon sauvage, ail des bois, poireau sauvage (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to…)
GermanRampe, Auffahrt (inclined surface), Gangway (aviation: mobile staircase)
Portugueserampa (inclined surface)
Spanishrampa, bajadero (inclined surface), puerro salvaje (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to…)

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 ramp come from?

From French rampe, from Middle French rampe, deverbal of ramper, from Old French ramper (“to crawl, climb, scale up”), from Frankish *hrampōn (“to contract oneself, wrinkle, rumple, crumple, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimpaną (“to shrivel, shrink”). Cognate with German Rampf (“retraction, curvature, shrinkage, spasm”). Doublet of romp. Akin also to Old English ġehrimpan (“to wrinkle, rimple, rumple”), Old High German rimpfan (German rümpfen (“to wrinkle up”)). Compare Danish rimpe (“to fold" (archaic), "to baste”), Icelandic rimpa. More at rimple.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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