seawater
noun, adjective
seawater is spelled S-E-A-W-A-T-E-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, seawater means “The saltwater of a sea or ocean” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of seawater is seawaters.
How many letters and syllables are in seawater?
| Letters | 8: S-E-A-W-A-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th 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 seawater?
Seawater appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th 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 seawater?
- US
Seawater has 3 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-seawater.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-seawater.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with seawater
Also written: sea water (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of seawater
- seawaters plural
- sea water
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does seawater mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The saltwater of a sea or ocean.
adjective
- 1
Consisting of seawater.
The continual seawater splashes corroded our equipment
- 2
Associated in some way with seawater, or intended for dealing with seawater.
The sharks in the aquarium had to be kept in a seawater tank
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Seawater in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense salt water of a sea or ocean:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | eau de mer |
| German | Meerwasser, Salzwasser |
| Portuguese | água do mar, água salgada |
| Spanish | agua salada |
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 seawater come from?
From Middle English seewater, se water, from Old English sǣwæter (“seawater”), equivalent to sea + water. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Seewoater (“seawater”), West Frisian seewetter (“seawater”), Dutch zeewater (“seawater”), Icelandic sjóvatn (“seawater”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).