sever
/ˈsɛv.ɚ/verb
sever is spelled S-E-V-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, sever means “To cut free” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sever?
| Letters | 5: S-E-V-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sever?
Sever appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th 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 sever?
- US /ˈsɛv.ɚ/
- UK /ˈsɛv.ə/
Sever 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-sever.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sever?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sever from its last stressed vowel (/ɛvəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: serve, verse.
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 sever
- severs present, singular, he/she/it
- severing participle, present
- severed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sever mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cut free.
After he graduated, he severed all links to his family.
- 2
To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated.
- 3
To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish.
- 4
To disconnect; to disunite; to terminate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sever in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to cut free:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rompre, trancher, sectionner |
| German | abtrennen, durchtrennen, abbrechen, trennen |
| Portuguese | cortar |
| Spanish | tajar, cercenar, escindir, esñocar, cortar cercén (a) |
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 sever come from?
From Middle English severen, from Old French sevrer, from Latin separāre (“to separate”), from se- (“apart”) + parāre (“provide, arrange”). Doublet of separate, from the past participle of that Latin verb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).