river
riv·er/ˈɹɪvə/noun, verb
river is spelled R-I-V-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (riv·er). It appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting River, the name). As a noun, river means “A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of river is rivers.
How many letters and syllables are in river?
| Letters | 5: R-I-V-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: riv·er |
| In writing | 107 times per million words; the 996th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is river?
River appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes River, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce river?
- UK /ˈɹɪvə/
- UK [ˈɹʷɪvə]
- /ˈɾɪvə/
As a noun (“One who rives or splits”): /ˈɹaɪvə/, /ˈɹaɪvɚ/.
River has 2 syllables, split riv·er in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-river.ogg, En-us-river.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of river
- rivers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- rivering participle, present
- rivered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does river mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.
Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods.
- 2
Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
a river of blood
- 3
The last card dealt in a hand.
- 4
A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.
- 5
One who rives or splits.
verb
- 1
To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.
Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate river?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of river: r., riv..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
River in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fleuve, rivière , torrent , lézarde |
| German | Fluss, Strom , Gießbach |
| Portuguese | rio, flume , caminho de rato |
| Spanish | río , calle |
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 river come from?
From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (“stream”) (whence rival, derive).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).