seldom
/ˈsɛldəm/adverb
seldom is spelled S-E-L-D-O-M: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, seldom means “Infrequently, rarely” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in seldom?
| Letters | 6: S-E-L-D-O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.3 times per million words; the 12,397th 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 seldom?
Seldom appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th 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 seldom?
- /ˈsɛldəm/
Seldom 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)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-seldom.wav, En-us-seldom.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of seldom
- more seldom comparative
- seldomer comparative
- most seldom superlative
- seldomest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does seldom mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Infrequently, rarely.
They seldom come here now.
adjective
- 1
archaicRare; infrequent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Seldom in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense infrequently, rarely:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rarement |
| German | selten |
| Portuguese | raramente |
| Spanish | casi nunca, pocas veces, poco, apenas, apenas si, por maravilla |
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 seldom come from?
From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).