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PlainSpell

sleeve

/sliv/noun, verb

sleeve is spelled S-L-E-E-V-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sleeve means “The part of a garment that covers the arm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sleeve is sleeves.

How many letters and syllables are in sleeve?

Letters6: S-L-E-E-V-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 sleeve?

Sleeve appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 sleeve?

  • UK /sliːv/
  • US /sliv/

Sleeve has one syllable (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: En-us-sleeve.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sleeve?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sleeve from its last stressed vowel (/iv/):

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 sleeve

  • sleeves plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sleeving participle, present
  • sleeved participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sleeve mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The part of a garment that covers the arm.

    The sleeves on my coat are too long.

  2. 2

    A (usually tubular) covering or lining to protect a piece of machinery etc.

    This bearing requires a sleeve so the shaft will fit snugly.

  3. 3

    A protective jacket or case, especially for a record, containing art and information about the contents; also the analogous leaflet found in a packaged CD.

  4. 4

    A tattoo covering the whole arm.

  5. 5

    A narrow channel of water.

  6. 6

    Sleave; untwisted thread.

  7. 7

    A serving of beer smaller than a pint, typically measuring between 12 and 16 ounces.

  8. 8

    USA long, cylindrical plastic bag of cookies or crackers, or a similar package of disposable drinking cups.

    A three-alarm fire tore through a family home on Newark's East Side early Saturday morning, completely gutting the two-story residence and tragically claiming a half-sleeve of Oreo cookies that was trapped inside a cupboard.

verb

  1. 1

    To fit and attach a sleeve to an upper garment (e.g. to a shirt, blouse, sweater, jacket, coat, etc.) or to a folder.

  2. 2

    To hide something up one's sleeve.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate sleeve?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of sleeve: TRS, slv.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sleeve in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmanche (part of a garment that covers the arm), chemise, gaine, manchon (mechanical covering or lining), pochette, boîtier (record cover)
GermanÄrmel (part of a garment that covers the arm), Hülse, Schutzhülle, Tülle, Köcher, Hülle (mechanical covering or lining)
Portuguesemanga (part of a garment that covers the arm)
Spanishmanga (part of a garment that covers the arm), funda (mechanical covering or lining), enfundar (to fit and attach a sleeve to an item)

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 sleeve come from?

From Middle English sleve, slefe, from Old English slīef and slīefe (“sleeve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sleeuwe (“sleeve”), West Frisian slúf, Dutch sloof (“apron”), Low German sluve, dialectal German Schlaube. The Canadian sense of “measure smaller than a pint” is due to a former conflict between federal law and provincial law in British Columbia.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sleeve