shingles
/ˈʃɪŋɡəlz/noun
shingles is spelled S-H-I-N-G-L-E-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shingles means “Herpes zoster, caused by Human herpes virus 3, in genus Varicellovirus” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shingles?
| Letters | 8: S-H-I-N-G-L-E-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is shingles?
Shingles appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd 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 shingles?
- /ˈʃɪŋɡəlz/
Shingles 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)-Persent101-shingles.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does shingles mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalHerpes zoster, caused by Human herpes virus 3, in genus Varicellovirus.
- 2
plural of shingle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shingles in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense herpes zoster:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | zona |
| German | Herpes Zoster, Gürtelrose |
| Portuguese | zona, herpes-zóster, cobrão |
| Spanish | culebrilla, culebrina, herpes zóster |
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 shingles come from?
From Latin cingulus, variant of cingulum (“girdle”), translating Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē), ζωστήρ (zōstḗr).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).