scalene
/ˈskeɪlin/adjective, noun
scalene is an adjective meaning “Having sides all unequal in length” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-C-A-L-E-N-E and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 24 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does scalene mean?
adjective
- 1
Having sides all unequal in length.
scalene triangle
- 2
Of or pertaining to the scalene muscle.
noun
- 1
Ellipsis of scalene muscle.
- 2
Ellipsis of scalene triangle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce scalene?
- UK /ˈskeɪliːn/
- US /ˈskeɪlin/
- US /skeɪˈlin/
Scalene has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-scalene.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of scalene
- scalenus
- scalenes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is scalene?
Scalene appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st 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).
Scalene in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense having sides unequal in length:
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 scalene come from?
Borrowed from Late Latin scalēnus (“of unequal sides”), from Ancient Greek σκᾰληνός (skălēnós, “uneven, unequal”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).