shortening
noun, verb
shortening is spelled S-H-O-R-T-E-N-I-N-G: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shortening means “Fat that is solid at room temperature, especially hydrogenated vegetable oil (known as vegetable shortening), used to make shortcrust pastry and in…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shortening is shortenings.
How many letters and syllables are in shortening?
| Letters | 10: S-H-O-R-T-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (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 |
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 shortening?
Shortening 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 shortening?
- US
Shortening has 3 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)-Flame,_not_lame-shortening.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of shortening
- shortenings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shortening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
USFat that is solid at room temperature, especially hydrogenated vegetable oil (known as vegetable shortening), used to make shortcrust pastry and in deep fat frying.
- 2
verbal noun of shorten: the process by which something is made shorter; a reduction in length.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of shorten
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shortening in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | graisse alimentaire , raccourcissement, raccourcissements |
| German | Pflanzenfett, Backfett , Verkürzung, Schrumpfung, Verkürzen, Schrumpfen |
| Portuguese | encurtamento |
| Spanish | acortamiento |
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.