sanctuary
sanc·tu·ary/ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/noun
sanctuary is spelled S-A-N-C-T-U-A-R-Y, 3 syllables: sanc·tu·ary. The wrong spelling people search most is santuary: about 410 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 26 of all searches for the word. Sanctuary is a noun meaning “A place of safety, refuge, or protection”. The plural of sanctuary is sanctuaries.
How many letters and syllables are in sanctuary?
| Letters | 9: S-A-N-C-T-U-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sanc·tu·ary |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, santuary, about 410 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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 sanctuary?
Sanctuary is spelled S-A-N-C-T-U-A-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 26 of the searches for sanctuary 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 sanctuary?
Sanctuary appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 sanctuary?
- UK /ˈsæŋktjʊəɹi/
- UK /ˈsæŋkt͡ʃʊəɹi/
- US /ˈsæŋkt͡ʃuˌɛɹi/
Sanctuary has 3 syllables, split sanc·tu·ary in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sanctuary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sanctuary
- sanctuaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sanctuary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A place of safety, refuge, or protection.
My car is a sanctuary, where none can disturb me except for people who cut me off.
- 2
An area set aside for protection.
The bird sanctuary has strict restrictions on visitors so the birds aren't disturbed.
- 3
A state of being protected, asylum.
The government granted sanctuary to the defector, protecting him from his former government.
- 4
The consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.
Near-synonym: chancel (broadly synonymous)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sanctuary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | refuge , réserve , asile , sanctuaire |
| German | Zuflucht, Herberge , Asyl |
| Portuguese | refúgio , santuário |
| Spanish | santuario |
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 sanctuary come from?
From Middle English seyntuarie, from Old French saintuaire, from Late Latin sanctuarium (“a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet, in Medieval Latin also temple, church, churchyard, cemetery, right of asylum”), from Latin sanctus (“holy, sacred”); see saint.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).