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PlainSpell

slumber

slum·ber/ˈslʌm.bɚ/noun, verb

slumber is spelled S-L-U-M-B-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (slum·ber). It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, slumber means “A very light state of sleep, almost awake” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of slumber is slumbers.

How many letters and syllables are in slumber?

Letters7: S-L-U-M-B-E-R
Syllables2: slum·ber
In writing1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is slumber?

Slumber appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd 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 slumber?

  • UK /ˈslʌm.bə/
  • US /ˈslʌm.bɚ/
  • /ˈslʊm.bə/

Slumber has 2 syllables, split slum·ber in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-slumber.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with slumber?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as slumber from its last stressed vowel (/ʌmbəɹ/):

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 slumber

  • slumbers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • slumbering participle, present
  • slumbered participle, past

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

What does slumber mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A very light state of sleep, almost awake.

  2. 2

    A very heavy state of sleep.

  3. 3

    A state of ignorance or inaction.

  4. 4

    rareThe snooze button on an alarm clock.

verb

  1. 1

    To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake.

  2. 2

    To be inactive or negligent.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo lay to sleep.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo stun; to stupefy.

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

Slumber in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsomnolence (a very light state of sleep), somnoler (to be in a very light state of sleep)
GermanHalbschlaf, Schlummer, Schläfchen (a very light state of sleep), schlummern, dösen (to be in a very light state of sleep), träumen (to be inactive or negligent)
Portuguesepestana, soneca, cochilo (a very light state of sleep), cochilar, dormitar (to be in a very light state of sleep)
Spanishadormecimiento, adormilamiento (a very light state of sleep), adormecer, adormilar, dormitar (to be in a very light state of sleep), estar aletargado (to be inactive or negligent)

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 slumber come from?

From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”).

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

What to look up after slumber