semifinalist
/ˌsɛmiˈfaɪnəlɪst/noun
semifinalist is a noun meaning “A person who competes in the semifinals, the winner of which goes on to compete in the finals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-E-M-I-F-I-N-A-L-I-S-T and has 5 syllables, and it appears about once in every 8 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of semifinalist is semifinalists.
What does semifinalist mean?
noun
- 1
A person who competes in the semifinals, the winner of which goes on to compete in the finals.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce semifinalist?
- /ˌsɛmiˈfaɪnəlɪst/
Semifinalist has 5 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: En-us-semifinalist.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of semifinalist
- semifinalists plural
- semi-finalist
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is semifinalist?
Semifinalist appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 85,266th 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).
Words people confuse with semifinalist
Also written: semi-finalist (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Semifinalist in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense person who competes in the semifinals:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | demi-finaliste |
| German | Halbfinalist, Halbfinalistin |
| Spanish | semifinalista |
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 semifinalist come from?
From semi- + finalist or semifinal + -ist.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).