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resign

UK /ɹɪˈzaɪn/verb

resign is spelled R-E-S-I-G-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “re-sign vs resign” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, resign means “To give up; to relinquish ownership of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in resign?

Letters6: R-E-S-I-G-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is resign?

Resign appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 resign?

  • UK /ɹɪˈzaɪn/

Resign has 2 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-resign_(verb).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with resign

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

re-sign vs resign1,300 G

Also written: re-sign (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with resign?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as resign from its last stressed vowel (/aɪn/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: singer, signer.

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 resign

  • resigns present, singular, he/she/it
  • resigning participle, present
  • resigned participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does resign mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To give up; to relinquish ownership of.

  2. 2

    To hand over (something to someone), place into the care or control of another.

  3. 3

    To voluntarily leave (a job or position), in particular a hard-fought position of high status.

    I am resigning in protest of the unfair treatment of our employees.

  4. 4

    To submit passively; to give up as hopeless or inevitable.

    He had no choice but to resign the game and let his opponent become the champion.

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

Resign in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchabandonner, céder (to give something up or relinquish), léguer (hand over, give over (to someone)), démissionner, abdiquer (quit a job or position), se résigner (to give up)
Germanzurücktreten, kündigen (quit a job or position)
Portuguesedemitir-se, desligar-se, renunciar (quit a job or position), resignar (to give up)
Spanishrenunciar, dimitir (quit a job or position), resignarse (to give up)

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 resign come from?

From Anglo-Norman resigner, Middle French resigner, and its source, Latin resignāre (“to unseal, annul, assign, resign”), from re- + signāre (“to seal, stamp”). Piecewise doublet of re-sign.

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

What to look up after resign