sapper
/ˈsæpɚ/noun
sapper is spelled S-A-P-P-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 56,788th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sapper means “A combat engineer; an engineer or a soldier engaged in attacking, destroying, and circumventing or building fortifications, bridges, and roads; a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sapper is sappers.
How many letters and syllables are in sapper?
| Letters | 6: S-A-P-P-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 56,788th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sapper?
Sapper appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 56,788th 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 sapper?
- /ˈsæpɚ/
Sapper 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-sapper.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sapper?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sapper.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: papers.
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 sapper
- sappers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sapper mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A combat engineer; an engineer or a soldier engaged in attacking, destroying, and circumventing or building fortifications, bridges, and roads; a military engineer active in a combat zone.
- 2
UKcolloquialAn officer or private of the Royal Engineers.
- 3
a person generally engaged in digging requiring a level of professionalism
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sapper in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense historical or traditional term for "combat engineer":
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 sapper come from?
Borrowed from Middle French sappeur (French sapeur). By surface analysis, sap + -er.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).