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PlainSpell

shaft

UK /ˈʃɑːft/noun, verb

shaft is spelled S-H-A-F-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shaft means “The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shaft is shafts.

How many letters and syllables are in shaft?

Letters5: S-H-A-F-T
Syllables1
In writing7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is shaft?

Shaft appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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).

How do you pronounce shaft?

  • UK /ˈʃɑːft/
  • Australia /ˈʃɐːft/
  • Australia [ˈʃɐ̞ːft]

Shaft has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-shaft.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with shaft?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shaft from its last stressed vowel (/ɑft/, British pronunciation):

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 shaft

  • shafts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • shafting participle, present
  • shafted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does shaft mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteThe entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.

  2. 2

    The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.

    Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered.

  3. 3

    Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.

  4. 4

    One of the poles between which a draught animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

  5. 5

    A rotating machine element used to transmit power; a driveshaft

  6. 6

    The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.

    Sarah, if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl!

  7. 7

    A beam or ray of light.

    Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?

  8. 8

    The main axis of a feather.

    I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!

verb

  1. 1

    slangTo fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

    Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that.

  2. 2

    To equip with a shaft.

  3. 3

    slangTo fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

    Turns out my roommate was shafting my girlfriend.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Shaft in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhampe (long narrow body of spear or arrow), brancard (pole to attach a draught animal), rachis (main axis of a feather), cage (vertical passage housing a lift), entuber (slang: to engage in a malicious act), piner (slang: to have sexual intercourse)
GermanSchaft (long narrow body of spear or arrow), Deichsel (pole to attach a draught animal), Federkiel, Kiel (main axis of a feather), Strahl (beam or ray of light), Stange (any long, thin object)
Portuguesehaste, cabo (long narrow body of spear or arrow), raque (main axis of a feather), raio (beam or ray of light)
Spanishasta, astil (long narrow body of spear or arrow), haz, rayo (beam or ray of light), vara, barra (any long, thin object)

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 shaft come from?

From Middle English chafte, saft, scaft, schaft, schafte, scheft, shaffet, shaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz (“shaft”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p- (“club, rod, shaft, staff”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after shaft