second
sec·ond/ˈsɛk.ənd/adjective, adverb, noun, verb
second is spelled S-E-C-O-N-D, 2 syllables: sec·ond. The wrong spelling people search most is secound: about 130 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 29 of all searches for the word. Second is an adjective meaning “Number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the…”.
How many letters and syllables are in second?
| Letters | 6: S-E-C-O-N-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sec·ond |
| In writing | 427 times per million words; the 214th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, secound, about 130 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell second?
Second is spelled S-E-C-O-N-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 29 of the searches for second in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is second?
Second appears 427 times per million words in written English, the 214th 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 second?
- US /ˈsɛk.ənd/
- US /ˈsɛk.ənt/
- US /ˈsɛk.ən/
As a noun (“A unit of time historically and commonly defined as a…”): /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nt/.
As a verb (“To transfer temporarily to alternative employment”): /səˈkɒnd/, /səˈkɑnd/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)nd/.
Second has 2 syllables, split sec·ond in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-2nd.ogg, En-us-second.ogg, En-uk-a_second.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with second?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as second from its last stressed vowel (/ɛkənd/):
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 second
- 2nd
- 2ⁿᵈ
- 2d
- 2ᵈ
- seconds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- seconding participle, present
- seconded participle, past
- s
- sec
- arcsec
- "
- μseconds plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does second mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Number-two; following after the first one with nothing between them. The ordinal number corresponding to the cardinal number two.
He lives on Second Street.
- 2
Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
His job is second priority, because his family is the most important thing in his life.
- 3
Being of the same kind as one that has preceded; another.
Residents of Texas prepared for Hurricane Harvey, which would in some ways turn out to become the second Hurricane Katrina.
adverb
- 1
After the first; at the second rank.
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system.
- 2
After the first occurrence but before the third.
He is batting second today.
noun
- 1
Something that is number two in a series.
- 2
Something that is next in rank, quality, precedence, position, status, or authority.
- 3
The place that is next below or after first in a race or contest.
- 4
A manufactured item that, though still usable, fails to meet quality control standards.
They were discounted because they contained blemishes, nicks or were otherwise factory seconds.
- 5
An additional helping of food.
That was good barbecue. I hope I can get seconds.
- 6
A chance or attempt to achieve what should have been done the first time, usually indicating success this time around. (See second-guess.)
- 7
The interval between two adjacent notes in a diatonic scale (either or both of them may be raised or lowered from the basic scale via any type of accidental).
- 8
The second gear of an engine.
- 9
A unit of time historically and commonly defined as a sixtieth of a minute which the International System of Units more precisely defines as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of caesium-133 in a ground state at a temperature of absolute zero and at rest.
Holonyms: decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gig
- 10
A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a minute of arc or one part in 3600 of a degree.
- 11
informalA short, indeterminate amount of time.
I'll be there in a second.
- 12
One who supports another in a contest or combat, such as a dueller's assistant.
- 13
One who supports or seconds a motion, or the act itself, as required in certain meetings to pass judgement etc.
If we want the motion to pass, we will need a second.
- 14
obsoleteAid; assistance; help.
verb
- 1
To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (See etymology 3 for translations.)
I second the motion.
- 2
To follow in the next place; to succeed.
- 3
To climb after a lead climber.
- 4
UKTo transfer temporarily to alternative employment.
The army officer was seconded while he held civil office.
- 5
To assist or support; to back.
- 6
To agree as a second person to (a proposal), usually to reach a necessary quorum of two. (This may come from etymology 1 above.)
I second the motion.
- 7
To accompany by singing as the second performer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate second?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of second: sec, sec..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Second in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | deuxième, second, deux , article de second choix , rab , seconde |
| German | zweite , zweite Wahl , Nachschlag , Sekunde , zweit- , Augenblick |
| Portuguese | segundo , artigo de segunda , instante, momento , segunda , apoiar |
| Spanish | segundo , momento , segunda , segundar , secundar , apoyar |
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 second come from?
From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed from Old French second, seond, from Latin secundus (“following, next in order”), from root of sequor (“to follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). Doublet of secund and secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).