simplex
sim·plex/ˈsɪmˌplɛks/adjective, noun
simplex is spelled S-I-M-P-L-E-X: 7 letters and 2 syllables (sim·plex). It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, simplex means “Having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in simplex?
| Letters | 7: S-I-M-P-L-E-X |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sim·plex |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,017th 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 simplex?
Simplex appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th 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 simplex?
- UK /ˈsɪmplɛks/
- US /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/
As a noun (“A generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an…”): /ˈsɪmplɛks/, /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/, /ˈsɪmplɪsiːz/.
Simplex has 2 syllables, split sim·plex in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-simplex.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-simplex.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-simplices.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of simplex
- simplexes plural
- simplices plural
- simplicia plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does simplex mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
datedHaving a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
- 2
Of an eye: (supposedly) having pigment on only the posterior surface of the iris and not the anterior surface, and thus appearing blue; this was later found to be inaccurate, as eye colour is due to the amount of pigment in the anterior surface of the iris; also, of eye pigmentation: present only on the posterior surface of the iris; and of a person: having eyes with this form of pigmentation.
- 3
Of a circuit or device: involving signals which travel in one direction at a time; unidirectional.
- 4
Of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes.
- 5
archaicobsoleteSynonym of heterozygous (“of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene”).
- 6
Of a word: having no (derivational) affixes; simple, monomorphemic, uncompounded.
- 7
Of an apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property): having only one floor or storey; single-storey.
noun
- 1
A generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension; more accurately, the convex hull of n+1 affinely independent points in n-dimensional space.
- 2
A word which is not compound and contains no derivational affixes (inflectional affixes are usually disregarded); a monomorphemic word.
The word weak is a simplex. Its derivative weaken is not.
- 3
archaicIn full simplex sentence: in transformational grammar: a simple sentence which is the product of a few transformations; a kernel sentence.
- 4
An apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property) having only one floor or storey; a single-storey property.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Simplex in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension, the gener:
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 simplex come from?
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin simplex (“plain, simple; single”). The first part, sim-, comes from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥- (“one; together”). The second part, -plex, may be from *pleḱ- (“to weave”). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural forms simplices and simplicia are learned borrowings from Latin simplicēs (masculine or feminine) and simplicia (neuter), respectively plural forms of simplex.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).