seconds
sec·onds/ˈsɛk.əndz/noun, verb
seconds is spelled S-E-C-O-N-D-S: 7 letters and 2 syllables (sec·onds). It appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, seconds means “A second helping of food for one person, or refill of coffee or other drink” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in seconds?
| Letters | 7: S-E-C-O-N-D-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sec·onds |
| In writing | 72 times per million words; the 1,457th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is seconds?
Seconds appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th 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 seconds?
- US /ˈsɛk.əndz/
- US /ˈsɛk.ənts/
- UK /ˈsɛkəndz/
Seconds has 2 syllables, split sec·onds in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-seconds.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does seconds mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A second helping of food for one person, or refill of coffee or other drink.
There is plenty of pie left, if you have room for seconds.
- 2
An item of clothing that has failed quality control and is sold at a discount
It was marked as seconds, but I can't find anything wrong with it.
- 3
Any article of merchandise of a grade inferior to the best; especially, a coarse or inferior kind of flour.
- 4
plural of second
There are sixty seconds in a minute.
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of second
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Seconds in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense second serving:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Nachschlag |
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.