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repellent

/ɹəˈpɛlənt/adjective, noun

repellent is spelled R-E-P-E-L-L-E-N-T: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, repellent means “Repulsive, inspiring aversion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in repellent?

Letters9: R-E-P-E-L-L-E-N-T
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 31,168th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 repellent?

Repellent appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th 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 repellent?

  • UK /ɹəˈpɛlənt/
  • UK /ɹɪˈpɛlənt/
  • US /ɹəˈpɛlənt/

Repellent 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-repellent.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of repellent

  • more repellent comparative
  • most repellent superlative
  • repellant
  • repellents plural

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

What does repellent mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Repulsive, inspiring aversion.

    The mixture of whey, beetroot juice, and spirulina seems repellent to me.

  2. 2

    Resistant or impervious to something.

    All that fabric's supposed to be dust-repellent.

  3. 3

    archaicTending or able to repel; driving back.

    These particles exercise a-highly repellent force.

noun

  1. 1

    A substance or solution used to repel insects, dangerous animals, or other pests.

    None of the mosquito repellents we've tried work.

  2. 2

    A substance or treatment for a fabric etc to make it impervious to something.

    They applied dirt repellent to the sports car.

  3. 3

    obsoleteSomeone or something that repels.

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

Repellent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrépulsif (repulsive, inspiring aversion)
Portugueserepugnante (repulsive, inspiring aversion), repelente (tending or able to repel)
Spanishrepulsivo (repulsive, inspiring aversion), repelente (tending or able to repel), impermeable (resistant or impervious to something), repelente para insectos (substance used to repel animals)

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 repellent come from?

From Latin repellēns. Equivalent to repel + -ent.

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

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