sheng
/ˈʃʌŋ/noun
sheng is spelled S-H-E-N-G: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sheng means “A Chinese wind instrument, a free-reed mouth organ consisting of 13 or more bamboo pipes of various lengths, which are fixed at their bases in a wind…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sheng is shengs.
How many letters and syllables are in sheng?
| Letters | 5: S-H-E-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,063rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is sheng?
Sheng appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd 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 sheng?
- /ˈʃʌŋ/
- [ˈʃʰʌŋ]
- /ˈʃɛŋ/
Sheng has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sheng.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sheng
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of sheng
- shengs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sheng mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A Chinese wind instrument, a free-reed mouth organ consisting of 13 or more bamboo pipes of various lengths, which are fixed at their bases in a wind chest made from a dried gourd (or, more recently, wood or chrome-plated brass).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sheng come from?
From Mandarin 笙 (shēng).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).