shaman
/ˈʃɑːmən/noun
shaman is spelled S-H-A-M-A-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shaman means “A traditional faith healer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shaman is shamans; Wiktionary also lists shamen (hypercorrect).
How many letters and syllables are in shaman?
| Letters | 6: S-H-A-M-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th 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 shaman?
Shaman appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 shaman?
- UK /ˈʃɑːmən/
- US /ˈʃɑːmən/
Shaman 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)-Vealhurl-shaman.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-shaman2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shaman?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shaman from its last stressed vowel (/ɑmən/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ashman.
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 shaman
- shamans plural
- shamen hypercorrect, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shaman mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A traditional faith healer.
- 2
A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.
Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shaman in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chamane, chaman, shaman, shamane |
| German | Schamane, Schamanin |
| Portuguese | xamã, xamane |
| Spanish | chamán, chamana, shamán, shamana, curandero, curandera |
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 shaman come from?
Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān), from Proto-Tungusic *samān. The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- (şa-, “to know”); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門 /沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).