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scissor

/ˈsɪzɚ/noun, verb

scissor is spelled S-C-I-S-S-O-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scissor means “One blade of a pair of scissors” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scissor is scissors.

How many letters and syllables are in scissor?

Letters7: S-C-I-S-S-O-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 32,393rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 scissor?

Scissor appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd 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 scissor?

  • UK /ˈsɪzə/
  • US /ˈsɪzɚ/
  • /ˈsəzə/

Scissor 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-scissor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of scissor

  • scissors plural, present, singular, he/she/it, rare
  • scissoring participle, present
  • scissored participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does scissor mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Attributive form of scissors. (a form of scissors)

  2. 2

    rareOne blade of a pair of scissors.

  3. 3

    IndiaScissors.

verb

  1. 1

    To cut using, or as if using, scissors.

  2. 2

    To excise or expunge something from a text.

    The erroneous testimony was scissored from the record.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo reproduce (text) as an excerpt, copy.

  4. 4

    To move something like a pair of scissors, especially the legs.

    The runner scissored over the hurdles.

  5. 5

    To engage in scissoring (tribadism), a sexual act in which two women intertwine their legs and rub their vulvas against each other.

  6. 6

    To skate with one foot significantly in front of the other.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Scissor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchciseau (one blade on a pair of scissors), couper aux ciseaux (to cut using scissors)
GermanSchere (one blade on a pair of scissors)
Spanishtijera (one blade on a pair of scissors), hacer la tijereta, hacer la tijera (to engage in scissoring, a sexual act)

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 scissor come from?

From Middle English cysour, cysoure, cysowre, altered from sisours (“scissors”), from Old French cisoires, cisours, cisur, from Latin caedere (“to cut”); current spelling influenced by Latin scindere, scissus (“to split”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after scissor