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PlainSpell

ready

read·y/ˈɹɛd.i/adjective, verb, noun

ready is spelled R-E-A-D-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (read·y). It appears 191 times per million words in written English, the 531st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, ready means “Prepared for immediate action or use” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in ready?

Letters5: R-E-A-D-Y
Syllables2: read·y
In writing191 times per million words; the 531st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 ready?

Ready appears 191 times per million words in written English, the 531st 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 ready?

  • US /ˈɹɛd.i/
  • Australia /ˈɹed.i/
  • /ˈrɛɖi/

Ready has 2 syllables, split read·y in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-ready.ogg, En-us-ready.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with ready

Also written: get ready, get set, go.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with ready?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ready from its last stressed vowel (/ɛdi/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: deary, deray, dayer.

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 ready

  • readier comparative
  • readiest superlative
  • readies present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • readying participle, present
  • readied participle, past

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

What does ready mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Prepared for immediate action or use.

    I made ready to set out on my journey.

  2. 2

    first only used predicatively, freely used from the end of the 17th century

    a loaf of ready-sliced bread

  3. 3

    Inclined; apt to happen.

  4. 4

    Liable at any moment.

    The seed is ready to sprout.

  5. 5

    Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.

    a ready apprehension

  6. 6

    Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.

verb

  1. 1

    To prepare; to make ready for action.

noun

  1. 1

    slangReady money; cash.

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

How do you abbreviate ready?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of ready: RWA.

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

Ready in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchprêt, prête (prepared for immediate action or use), rendre disponible (to make prepared for action)
Germanbereit, fertig, gar, parat (prepared for immediate action or use), bereit machen, fertig machen (to make prepared for action)
Portuguesepronto, preparado (prepared for immediate action or use), preparar, aprontar (to make prepared for action)
Spanishaprontado, listo, listoco, alistado, aprestado, en fa (prepared for immediate action or use)

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 ready come from?

From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (“ready, prepared”), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready".

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

What to look up after ready