sequel
/ˈsiːkwəl/noun
sequel is spelled S-E-Q-U-E-L. The wrong spelling people search most is sequal: about 400 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Sequel is a noun meaning “The events, collectively, which follow a previously mentioned event; the aftermath”. The plural of sequel is sequels.
How many letters and syllables are in sequel?
| Letters | 6: S-E-Q-U-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, sequal, about 400 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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).
How do you spell sequel?
Sequel is spelled S-E-Q-U-E-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for sequel 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 sequel?
Sequel appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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 sequel?
- /ˈsiːkwəl/
Sequel 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: En-us-sequel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sequel
- sequels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sequel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
datedThe events, collectively, which follow a previously mentioned event; the aftermath.
- 2
A narrative that is written after another narrative set in the same universe, especially a narrative that is chronologically set after its predecessors, or (perhaps improper usage) any narrative that has a preceding narrative of its own.
- 3
Synonym of postquel; a narrative work that follows-on and is set after an prior existing work.
- 4
Any text that continues on from another text.
- 5
The remainder of the text; what follows. Used exclusively in the set phrase "in the sequel".
- 6
ScotlandThirlage.
- 7
obsoleteA person's descendants.
noun
- 1
plural of sequela
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate sequel?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of sequel: seq..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sequel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a narrative written after another narrative set in the same universe:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | suite |
| German | Fortsetzung, Folge |
| Portuguese | sequência, continuação, sequela |
| Spanish | secuela |
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 sequel come from?
From Middle English sequele, sequelle, sequile, from Middle French sequele, sequelle and its etymon, Latin sequēla, from sequī (“to follow”). Doublet of sequela.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).