runs
/ɹʌnz/noun, verb
runs is spelled R-U-N-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 69 times per million words in written English, the 1,528th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, runs means “Diarrhea/diarrhoea” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in runs?
| Letters | 4: R-U-N-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 69 times per million words; the 1,528th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 runs?
Runs appears 69 times per million words in written English, the 1,528th 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 runs?
- /ɹʌnz/
Runs has one syllable (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-runs.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does runs mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
slangDiarrhea/diarrhoea.
He missed several days of school because he had the runs. They think it was a Norovirus infection.
- 2
plural of run
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of run
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Runs in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense diarrhea:
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 runs come from?
Usually said to allude to the fact that an affected person is frequently running to get to a toilet immediately. Sometimes said to allude to the runniness (runny consistency) of the stool.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).