sec
/sɛk/noun
sec is spelled S-E-C: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sec means “Second, ¹⁄₆₀ of a minute” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sec is secs.
How many letters and syllables are in sec?
| Letters | 3: S-E-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 20 times per million words; the 4,224th 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 sec?
Sec appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th 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 sec?
- /sɛk/
Sec has one syllable (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-sec.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sec?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sec.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ces.
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 sec
- secs plural
- sec.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sec mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalSecond, ¹⁄₆₀ of a minute.
- 2
colloquialClipping of second (“short indeterminate period of time”).
Wait a sec!
- 3
colloquialClipping of secretary.
shadow sec
noun
- 1
Initialism of size-exclusion chromatography.
- 2
Initialism of scavenger endothelial cell.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sec come from?
Abbreviation of secondary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).