resilient
/ɹɪˈzɪl.jənt/adjective
resilient is spelled R-E-S-I-L-I-E-N-T. The wrong spelling people search most is resiliant: about 470 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 13 of all searches for the word. Resilient is an adjective meaning “Returning quickly to original shape after force is applied; elastic. (of objects or substances)”.
How many letters and syllables are in resilient?
| Letters | 9: R-E-S-I-L-I-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, resiliant, about 470 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell resilient?
Resilient is spelled R-E-S-I-L-I-E-N-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 13 of the searches for resilient in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is resilient?
Resilient appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th 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 resilient?
- /ɹɪˈzɪl.jənt/
- /ɹɪˈzɪli.ənt/
Resilient 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: En-us-resilient.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Simplificationalizer-resilient.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of resilient
- more resilient comparative
- most resilient superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does resilient mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Returning quickly to original shape after force is applied; elastic. (of objects or substances)
- 2
Having the ability to absorb energy when deformed.
- 3
Returning quickly to normal after damaging events or conditions. (of systems, organisms or people)
- 4
Having the ability to recover from mental illness, trauma, etc.; having resilience.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Resilient in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense able to withstand force without cracking; elastic:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | flexible, résistant, résilient |
| German | elastisch, federnd, spannkräftig, unverwüstlich, belastbar, resilient |
| Portuguese | resiliente, elástico |
| Spanish | tenaz, resistente, resiliente |
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 resilient come from?
From Latin resiliēns, resilientem (“rebounding”, present active participle of resiliō) (whence -ent), from saliō (“leap, jump”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).